GUNMEN KILL HAZARA COAL MINERS IN SOUTHWEST PAKISTAN

Sun 03 January 2021:

At least 11 coal miners were killed in the Mach area of Balochistan on Sunday after armed militants kidnapped them and took them to a nearby area before opening fire at close range.

Police authorities said the miners were on the way to work when armed militants kidnapped them and took them to the nearby mountains. Moazzam Ali Jatoi, an official with the Levies Force, said six of the miners were dead on the spot, and five who were critically wounded died on the way to a hospital.

Jatoi said an initial investigation revealed the attackers identified the miners as being from the Shia Hazara community and the gunmen took them away for execution, leaving others unharmed.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the miners’ killing, terming it “yet another cowardly inhumane act of terrorism”.

“Have asked the FC to use all resources to apprehend these killers & bring them to justice. The families of the victims will not be left abandoned by the govt,” he said in a tweet.

The condemnable killing of 11 innocent coal miners in Machh Balochistan is yet another cowardly inhumane act of terrorism. Have asked the FC to use all resources to apprehend these killers & bring them to justice. The families of the victims will not be left abandoned by the govt

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 3, 2021

There has been an uptick in violence in restive Balochistan, with several incidents of terrorism being reported last year.

On October 16, seven soldiers of Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan and seven security guards were martyred in an ‘encounter’ with a “large number of terrorists” while escorting a convoy of state-run Oil & Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDCL) on the Makran Coastal Highway in Ormara.