Gunmen kill 11 at Baluchistan coal mine
QUETTA: Gunmen in the southern region of Pakistan have killed at least 11 workers at a remote coal mine, government and security officials said yesterday.
The victims of the attack in Baluchistan province were from the minority Shia Hazara community.
“Dead bodies of the 11 miners have been taken to a local hospital,” Khalid Durrani, a government official in the area, said.
Ethnic Hazara make up most of the Shia population in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan — the country’s largest and poorest region, rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies.
They are often targeted by Sunni militants, who consider them heretics, though it was unclear why the attackers targeted the coal mine specifically.
The attack, before dawn yesterday, took place in the far-flung and mountainous Machh area while the miners slept, Mr Durrani said, adding that four other miners were injured and were being treated at the local hospital.
A security official told AFP the attackers first separated the miners, tied their hands and feet, took them out into the hills and later killed them.
Both Mr Durrani and the security official said the victims belonged to the Hazara community.
Mr Durrani said the mine was deep in the mountains.
It was not clear how exactly the miners were killed, he told AFP.
The assailants fled after the attack. Both officials said police and members of the local paramilitary force were on the scene, where a search operation had been launched to trace the attackers.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a message on Twitter, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned “the killing of 11 innocent coal miners in Machh” as a “cowardly inhumane act of terrorism”.
Liaqat Shahwani, a spokesman for the provincial government, confirmed the incident had occurred and told private Pakistani TV channel Geo that it was an act of terrorism.
Though Pakistan’s mines are notorious for poor safety standards, such attacks against miners are rare.