RAWALPINDI: Armed assailants abducted more than 20 labourers after attacking a gas company’s camp along the national highway in Balochistan’s Musakhail district, acording to a local media report.
Police sources reportedly said that the armed men opened fire on the camp before kidnapping over 20 labourers. Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.
This attack follows another tragic incident in the Balochistan district of Panjgur, where seven workers were shot dead in a home in the Khuda Abad area.
The victims, all labourers from Shujaabad in Punjab, were relatives working on a construction project at the time of the attack. The workers, who were asleep in the same room at the time, were attacked with automatic weapons. One additional worker was injured in the attack, while another, who was not at the house at the time, survived.
Prime Minister also requested a report from Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti and reaf-firmed the government’s commitment to eradicating terrorism.
Pangur SSP Fazil Shah Bokhari confirmed that the victims had been brought from Shujabad, Multan, by Abu Bakr, who was building the house. “This is a terrorist attack,” he stated, adding that the investi-gation is underway.
The bodies of the deceased were taken to the district hospital in Panjgur, where medical officials con-firmed that all victims had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
Last month, in another incident, armed men killed 23 people after forcing them off their vehicles at a roadblock put up on a highway in Balochistan’s Musakhail district.
The attackers targeted trucks and buses on an inter-provincial highway near Rarah Sham, according to Musakhail’s police chief, Ayub Achakzai.
The militants set 35 vehicles ablaze before the fleeing the scene. Most of the victims belonged to Pun-jab province of Pakistan.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) terrorist group took responsibility in a statement emailed to journal-ists that claimed many more attacks, including one on a major paramilitary base. The terror group’s claim could not be independently verified. –Agencies
