At least 20 miners were killed and eight others injured when unidentified armed men attacked their coal mines in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province early Friday.
According to the report of Duniya News, this incident took place in Dukki area of the province.
The attack is the latest in a string of violence in Pakistan. This comes short of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit to be held in the national capital.
According to District Chairman Dukki Haji Khair Ullah Nasir, the attackers used hand grenades and rocket launchers in the attack. He said that ten coal mines are located in the area.
Nasir said the attackers also set mining machinery on fire before fleeing the scene.
At least 20 miners were killed and eight others were injured.
After the attack, police, paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) and rescue teams reached the spot.
Police sources said the death toll may rise as the condition of some injured minors is critical.
Station in-charge Dukki Hamnayan Khan said that armed men first gathered the miners in different groups and then opened fire on them.
Heavy contingents of police and FC have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to nab the culprits.
Pakistan has seen a worrying rise in terrorist attacks in the current year and deaths in the first three quarters have exceeded the number recorded in 2023.
The number of deaths in the first three quarters of 2024 dropped to at least 1,534, compared to 1,523 in 2023, according to the third quarter report (Q3) released by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).
Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is home to a long-running violent insurgency. Baloch insurgent groups have previously carried out several attacks targeting CPEC projects.
The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has accused China and Islamabad of exploiting the resource-rich province, a charge rejected by officials. It has fought a long-running rebellion for a separate homeland.
Earlier this week, two Chinese nationals were killed and 17 people were injured in a suicide attack by a Baloch insurgent group targeting a convoy of Chinese workers near Pakistan’s busiest airport in Karachi. PTI SH NSA NSA