Gunmen kill at least 20 miners in Pakistan
Gunmen have killed at least 20 people at a coal mine in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, according to local police.
The attackers raided the workers’ quarters at the Junaid Coal Company mines in Duki district early Friday morning. They gathered the workers and opened fire.
Reuters reported that a hospital in Duki received 20 bodies and is treating six injured individuals.
Police stated that the attackers used heavy weaponry, including rocket launchers and grenades. One survivor mentioned seeing a drone overhead during the assault.
Subcontractor Hafeezullah told the BBC he saw the drone’s red light as he and others hid in the bathroom. “When the attackers approached, they shouted, ‘We told you to stop working here, why didn’t you?’” he said. The attackers, speaking in Pashto, then opened fire.
Hafeezullah estimates the attack began shortly after midnight and lasted around 90 minutes. Machinery was set on fire, and he heard loud explosions, possibly from grenades.
Duki district police chief Asim Shafi confirmed to AFP that hand grenades and rocket launchers were used, and that up to 40 attackers are believed to have carried out the assault before disappearing into the night.
Police confirmed that four of the victims were Afghans, while the rest of the men were from Pashto-speaking areas of Balochistan.
Hafeezullah says he lost several friends in the attack.
“When I left, there were people lying on the ground,” he said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings so far. In the past, the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has carried out several deadly attacks in the province.
Mine owner Khairullah Nasar told news agency Reuters they had been getting “threats from the militants for some time, but there was no information about the attack”.
Friday’s attack is the latest to be carried out in recent days, and comes just ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a major security summit being hosted in the Pakistani capital Islamabad next week.
On Monday, a BLA militant killed two Chinese nationals and injured at least 10 people in a suicide attack near Karachi airport.
The group, which pushes for an independent Balochistan, also committed multiple attacks in August that killed more than 50 people. Pakistani authorities responded by killing 21 insurgents in the province.
The latest attack on the miners drew condemnation from Balochistan’s chief minister Sarfraz Bugti, who said the attackers had an agenda to destabilise Pakistan.
“The terrorists have once again targeted poor labourers… the killing of these innocent laborers will be avenged,” he said in a statement.
Balochistan is home to several separatist groups, who accuse the central government of exploiting the resource-rich province.
The militants often target security forces, as well as people who have come to work at the province’s many mining and infrastructure projects.
As well as enhancing security measures, Pakistani authorities will reportedly be curbing movements of Chinese citizens during the summit, due to the security risk from militant groups targeting them.