Occupied Baluchistan: Quetta, - Gunmen assassinated a nationalist leader in insurgency-torn Baluchistan on Wednesday as he left his home on the outskirts of Quetta. According to BBC Urdu, he was shot dead in front of his brother’s shop where he had stopped by to pick a newspaper.

Habib Jalib was secretary general of the opposition faction of Baluchistan National Party, which advocates greater autonomy for the Baluchistan and campaigns peacefully for self-determination. However, many disgruntled Baluch youth do not believe the slogan of self-determination and they call for the Independence of Baluchistan.

Relatives said Jalib, a lawyer and former Senator was going to drop his children at school when gunmen waiting for him outside sprayed bullets and fled on a motorbike.

"He expired on his way to hospital. The motorcycle riders managed to flee after the firing," Shah Nawaz, a senior police officer in the hospital, told news reporters. The shooting took place in the Sariab neighbourhood on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan.

Violence has surged this year in Baluchistan, which borders both Afghanistan and Iran. Human rights activists have raised concerns about an increase in targeted killings in the province over the past 20 months.

Shops and markets shut down after Jalib's killing. Authorities also closed Baluchistan University for two days in a bid to minimise violent protests.

Hundreds of people have died since Baluch rebels rose up in 2004 demanding for the Independence of Baluchistan. Baluch conflict with Pakistan started right after the illegal occupation of Baluch land in 1948. Thousands of Baluch men, women and children have been killed by Pakistani military and their agents, since the struggle against the illegal occupation of Baluchistan has started.

Baluch Muslha Tanzeem Claims Responsibility for Jalib’s Murder: The Baluch Muslha Defai Tanzeem, an underground anti-Baluch nationalists group, has accepted responsibility for the killing of Baluchistan National Party (BNP) leader Habib Jalib Baluch.

A spokesman for the mysterious group, who identified himself as Mir Jhang Khan, called Noshki Press Club and accepted responsibility for the target killing of the senior BNP leader. Jalib had previously escaped a similar assassination attempt on his life when unidentified persons had opened fire on a BNP rally in Quetta. The spokesman of the same organization had claimed that Jalib had been the actual target of the firing incident.

The spokesman also warned the journalists of Khuzdar not to report anything about the Baluch National Front or Baluch Liberation Army. Otherwise, he warned, they would be targeted.

*Musslha Tanzeem is believed to be a group created by Pakistani MI and ISI to target killed those Baluch individuals and parties who are working for the Independence of Baluchistan. This group has previously claimed responsibility for the attacks on Baluch Students’ Organisation Culture Day event, the murder of Baluch students in Khuzdar and the attack on BSO senior leader Rashid Baluch.