DUKKI (Dunya News) – At least 20 miners were killed and seven others wounded when unidentified armed men attacked coalmines in Dukki area of Balochistan in the wee hours of Friday.
According to police, unidentified men attacked the mines of Dukki District Chairman Haji Khair Ullah Nasir with hand grenades and rocket launchers and opened fire on the miners, killing 20 and injuring seven.
The slain miners belonged to Pishin, Qila Saifullah, Zhob, Muslim Bagh, Musakhel, Kuchlak and Afghanistan, police said.
“A group of armed men attacked the Junaid Coal company mines in the Dukki area in the wee hours using heavy weapons,” said Dukki police station SHO Humayun Khan.
He said that the attackers gathered the miners at one place and opened fire on them.
Dukki Hospital Medical Officer Dr Johar Shadizai told media that the injured miners have been shifted to the Teaching Hospital Loralai after providing first aid at the hospital.
“We have received 20 bodies and six injured at the district hospital,” said Dr Shadizai.
Haji Khair Ullah said police and FC personnel reached mines late and the locals and mine officials shifted the injured and the dead to hospital on self help basis.
He said that the attackers also set 10 engines and other mining machinery to fire before fleeing.
Heavy contingents of police and FC have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to arrest the attackers.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Reuters adds: Pakistan has seen a resurgence of militancy since 2022 when a ceasefire between the Pakistani Taliban and the government broke down.
Two Chinese nationals working for a power plant were killed and a third injured in an explosion near the international airport in the southern city of Karachi earlier this week.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of several insurgent groups battling the government, claimed responsibility for the attack.
BLA was also behind Balochistan's most widespread violence in years in August, when separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines, and highways, killing more than 70 people.
The region saw violence last month too when armed men stormed a residence housing labourers from eastern Punjab province, killing seven of them.
CONDOLENCES
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti expressed "sorrow and grief" on the killing of miners in Dukki.
In their messages to the families of the dead miners, they prayed for early recovery of the injured and assured them that the killers would be handed down exemplary punishment.