QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen killed 20 miners and wounded another seven in Pakistan’s southwest, a police official said Friday, drawing condemnation from authorities as a search was launched for the attackers.
The latest attack in restive Balochistan province came days ahead of a major security summit being hosted in the capital.
The gunmen stormed the accommodations at the 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 coal mine and damaged the machinery used for the mining before fleeing.
Most of the men attacked were from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan. Three of the dead and four of the wounded were Afghan. Angered over the attack, local shop owners pulled their shutters down to observe a daylong strike against the killing.
No group claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, but the suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which often targets civilians and security forces.
