Gunmen Kill Seven Workers in Pakistan's Balochistan Province: Police


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Seven laborers were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan late on Saturday, police said.

Armed men stormed a residence where workers from eastern Punjab province were staying and opened fire with automatic weapons, according to police.

"No one has claimed responsibility," a police official stated.

"Seven laborers have been gunned down by unknown armed men in the Khuda-i-Abadan area of Panjgur town," Senior Superintendent of Police in Panjgur, Syed Fazil Shah, told Reuters.

He added that one other laborer was injured.

In August, Balochistan experienced some of its most widespread violence in years when separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines, and highways, prompting retaliatory operations by security forces.

More than 70 people were killed, including residents of Punjab visiting or working in the province whose trucks were stopped or who were pulled off buses.

Those attacks were claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of several ethnic insurgent groups battling the central government, alleging it unfairly exploits gas and mineral resources in the province where poverty is widespread.