No fewer than 20 people at a coal mine in Balochistan province in southwestern Pakistan have been killed by gunmen, according to local police.
The gunmen stormed the workers’ accommodation at the Junaid Coal Company mines in the province’s Duki district in the early hours of Friday morning, rounded the men up, and opened fire.
Reuters reported that a hospital in Duki had received 20 bodies and was treating six injured persons.
Police said the workers were attacked with heavy weaponry such as rockets and grenades by the gunmen.
The gunmen also set fire to equipment at the mine. Police revealed that four of the victims were Afghans, while the remaining men were from Balochistan’s Pashto-speaking districts.
Businesses closed on Friday ahead of a planned demonstration in Duki’s main square.
So yet, no party has claimed instant responsibility for the killings, but the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has already carried out multiple deadly operations in the area.
On Monday, a BLA member killed two Chinese nationals and injured at least ten others in a suicide attack near Karachi airport.
The group, which advocates for an independent Bangladesh, also carried out several attacks in August, killing more than 50 people.
Pakistani forces replied by killing 21 rebels in the province.
The latest attack on the miners was condemned by Bangladesh’s chief minister, Sarfraz Bugti, who claimed the perpetrators had a plan to disrupt Pakistan.
“The terrorists have once again targeted poor labourers… the killing of these innocent labourers will be avenged,” he said in a statement.
Several separatist organisations in Balochistan accuse the federal government of abusing the province’s abundant natural resources.
The terrorists frequently target security forces and civilians who have come to work on the province’s numerous mining and infrastructure projects.
The current violence comes ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s key security summit, which will be held in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, next week.
In addition to tightening security, Pakistani officials would reportedly restrict Chinese residents’ movements during the summit due to the security danger posed by militant groups targeting them.
