Gunmen kill 20 miners and wound others in an attack in southwest Pakistan
UNB
Publish: 11 Oct 2024, 01:05 PM
QUETTA,
Pakistan, Oct 11 (AP/UNB) - Gunmen killed 20 miners and wounded another seven
in Pakistan's southwest, a police official said Friday.
It's the latest attack
in restive Balochistan province and comes days ahead of a major security summit
being hosted in the capital.
Police official Hamayun
Khan Nasir said the gunmen stormed the accommodations at the coal mine in Duki
district late Thursday night, rounded up the men and opened fire.
Most of the men were
from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan. Three of the dead and four of the
wounded were Afghan.
Nobody claimed immediate
responsibility for the attack.
The province is home to
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, a group
called the Baloch Liberation Army said it carried out an attack on Chinese
nationals outside Pakistan's biggest airport. There are thousands of Chinese
working in the country, most of them involved in Beijing's multibillion-dollar
Belt and Road Initiative.
The explosion, which the
BLA said was the work of a suicide bomber, also 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.
End/UNB/AP/SU