Gunmen kill 20 miners in an attack in southwest Pakistan ahead of an
Asian security summit
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[October 11, 2024]
By ABDUL SATTAR
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen killed 20 miners and wounded seven others
in Pakistan’s southwest, a police official said Friday, drawing
condemnation from authorities as a search was launched for the
assailants.
The latest attack in restive Balochistan province came days ahead of a
major security summit being hosted in the capital.
The gunmen stormed the accommodation at a coal mine in Duki district
late Thursday night, rounded up the men and opened fire, police official
Hamayun Khan Nasir said. He said the attackers also fired rockets and
lobbed grenades at the mine and damaged the machinery before fleeing.
Most of the casualties were from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan.
Three of the dead and four of the wounded were Afghan. Angered over the
violence, local shop owners pulled their shutters down to observe a
daylong strike against the killings.
No group claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, but suspicion
is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which targets
civilians and security forces.
The group launched multiple attacks in August that killed more than 50.
They included 23 people, mostly from eastern Punjab province, who were
fatally shot after being taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in
Musakhail district in Balochistan. Authorities responded by killing 21
insurgents in the province.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his deep sorrow over the coal
mine killings and vowed to eliminate terrorism.
Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Balochistan, said “terrorists have
once again targeted poor laborers." He said the attackers were cruel and
had an agenda to destabilize Pakistan. “The killing of these innocent
laborers will be avenged,” he said in a statement.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said those who killed the laborers would
not be able to escape from the grip of the law.
The province is home to several separatist groups who want independence.
They accuse the federal government in Islamabad of unfairly exploiting
oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan at the expense of locals.
On Monday, the BLA said it carried out an attack on Chinese nationals
outside Pakistan's biggest airport. The bodies of the two slain Chinese
engineers were sent to Beijing by a plane Thursday night, according to
security officials.
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Injured men receive treatment at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan,
Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Thursday attack by gunmen in
Balochistan province. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
There are thousands of Chinese working in the country, most of them
involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.
Two suspects linked to a 2021 bombing that killed nine Chinese
nationals and four Pakistanis working on a dam in the northwest were
killed Friday in eastern Pakistan, counterterrorism police said.
Police said the suspects died when armed men attacked a van
transporting the suspects to a prison in Sahiwal, a district in
Punjab province. No officer was harmed in the shootout, the
statement from counterterrorism police said.
Sunday's airport explosion, which the BLA said was the work of a
suicide bomber, has raised questions about the ability of Pakistani
forces to protect high-profile events or foreigners in the country.
Islamabad is hosting a summit next week of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, a grouping founded by China and Russia to counter
Western alliances.
Authorities have increased security in the capital by deploying
troops.
The Interior Ministry this week alerted provinces to take additional
measures as separatists and the Pakistani Taliban could attack
public places and government installations.
The killings of the miners came hours after Saudi and Pakistani
businessmen signed 27 investment agreements valued at $2 billion
across various sectors, including mining in Balochistan.
Saudi Arabia also wants to invest in Reko Diq, a district in
Balochistan famed for its mineral wealth, including gold and copper.
Balochistan’s Gwadar Port is an anchor in the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor, part of Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative. The
BLA has asked the Chinese workers to leave the province to avoid
attacks.
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Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed contributed to this story from
Islamabad.
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