Eleven people killed in firing incident in Quetta

A woman was also among the dead in the attack in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, where militants and Baloch separatists are blamed for years of violence in the province that shares border with Iran and Afghanistan. — File Photo

QUETTA: Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Saturday, killing people and wounding three, police said.

A woman was also among the dead in the attack in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, where pro-Taliban militants and Baloch separatists are blamed for years of violence. The province shares border with Iran and Afghanistan.
“The vehicle was passing by a bus stand when gunmen riding in another car opened fire, killing at least 11 people and wounding three,” city’s police chief Hamid Shakeel told Reuters.
Saturday’s attack came a day after eight people were killed and about 25 wounded in two separate bomb and gun attacks in two districts of Balochistan.
Baloch nationalists have waged a low-scale insurgency for decades but Taliban militants with links to al Qaeda have also been active in Balochistan, the largest but poorest of Pakistan’s four provinces, and home to the country’s largest gas and oil reserves.
Pakistan has seen a surge in violence since al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in a secret raid in Pakistan in May. Militants have vowed revenge for bin Laden’s death.

One-legged South African driver used boy as clutch: Police

By AFP

Published: July 18, 2011

Driver had an expired learner's permit, truck's licence had expired two years ago. PHOTO: AFP

CAPETOWN: A one-legged delivery truck driver was stopped at a Cape Town roadblock Friday, when police found him using his 11-year-old son to operate the clutch.
The 39-year-old driver had his left leg amputated in 1996 after a gunshot injury, leaving him unable to press the clutch to change gears, the city’s traffic department said in a statement.
To keep driving, he sat his son next to him in the driver’s seat, telling the boy when to press the clutch for gear changes, chief traffic inspector Merle Lourens told AFP.
The driver, who was not named, had an expired learner’s permit, but only to drive automatic vehicles. The truck’s licence had expired two years ago, and it had a broken parking brake and a broken seat belt, she added.
He was fined 1,000 rand ($145, 102 euros).
“He won’t be allowed to drive, but he shouldn’t have been driving in the first place,” she said.