QUETTA, Sept 29 (Askume) – Gunmen killed seven workers on Saturday night in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province.
Police said gunmen stormed the workers’ homes in eastern Punjab province and opened fire with automatic weapons. No one has been held accountable yet.
“Seven workers were killed by unidentified gunmen in the Khuda-e-Abadan area of Banjgur town,” Banjgur Senior Police Superintendent Syed Fazil Shah told Askume. He said another worker was injured.
In August, Balochistan faced its most widespread violence in years , with separatist militants attacking police stations, railway lines and highways, prompting security forces to respond.
More than 70 people died, including residents visiting or working in Punjab province who had their trucks stopped or were forced off buses.
The attack was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of several ethnic insurgent groups fighting the central government. The company, it said, was unfairly exploiting natural gas and mineral resources in the province, where poverty is widespread, and wanted to eliminate Chinese interests and Balochistan’s independence.
