Quetta: At least seven labourers from the Punjab province were killed by separatist militants in the restive Balochistan province of Pakistan, police said on Sunday. The labourers from Multan were shot dead late on Saturday night when they were asleep in an under-construction house in the Khuda-e-Abadan area of Panjgur town, Balochistan Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari said.
Ansari said the labourers were in deep sleep when the armed terrorists entered the under-construction house and opened indiscriminate fire with automatic weapons. The official said one of the labourers luckily escaped with an injury while another was not present at the time of the shooting. The official said an investigation into the attack has been opened.
“This latest attack appears to be the work of the BLA as it has all their footprints on it,” another security official said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who immediately condemned the attack, sought a report from Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti and reiterated the government’s resolve to take all possible measures to root out terrorism from the motherland. President Asif Ali Zardari also condemned the attack.
On Saturday, a senior leader of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) Agha Khalid Shah was shot dead and his cousin was injured by unidentified assailants in Quetta. This is not the first time banned separatist groups have targeted labourers or civilians from other provinces. In May, the banned Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for killing seven barbers in Gwadar. In April, militants shot dead in cold blood nine people travelling in a bus in Noshki on the main highway.
(With inputs from agency)
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