Six police officers killed in Pakistan protecting Spaniard on cycling trip

Six police officers in Pakistan have been killed while fending off a kidnap attempt against a Spanish adventurer attempting to cycle through one of the most dangerous parts of the country.

Javier Colorado, a 27-year-old adventurer on a round-the-world bicycle trip, was travelling with an escort of paramilitary police guards towards Quetta, the provincial capital of insurgency-racked Baluchistan province.

Local officials said six members of the Levies – as the tribal police force is known – had been killed in an exchange of fire while another five were injured.

“Armed men opened indiscriminate firing and wanted to kidnap the foreigner,” a local Levies official said.

Mr Colorado was also taken to hospital with a bullet wound, police said. The Spanish foreign ministry said he was released later yesterday.

He had been given a police guard after crossing on Tuesday from Iran into Baluchistan, one of Pakistan’s most volatile provinces – focus of attacks by rebels and some of the worst sectarian violence in Pakistan as well as being home to many Taliban militants who use it as a base for attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan.

A foreign tourist would be a valuable prize for any of those groups, as well as for bandits simply motivated by the prospect of a large ransom.

Astonishment
Pakistanis reacted with astonishment that a foreigner was travelling through the area, not least as the attempted kidnapping took place in Mastung, the same district where a bomb attack on a bus carrying Shia pilgrims from Iran had killed 24 people the previous day. The incident had prevented Mr Colorado from travelling on towards Quetta on Tuesday.

A message on Mr Colorado’s Facebook page posted by relatives said his family “would like to give our appreciation for the attention given by the Spanish consulate in Pakistan”.

However, it suggested he would give the rest of Pakistan a miss.

“We received a call from the embassy that Javier is well and uninjured. Today he will take a flight to Lahore, next to the Indian border,” the message said. “His intentions right now are to continue his journey.”

His attempt to cycle around the world began on October 1st when he left Madrid on a journey that took him east through Europe, Turkey and Iran.

A profile of Mr Colorado by a Spanish cycling magazine called him a person who loves to "overcome his fears and test the limits of his abilities".
– (Guardian service)