Militants shot dead six people and injured another person in a late-night attack in Balochistan, just 15 miles away from Gwadar port, on Wednesday.
“We are investigating the matter at the moment but it looks like they were attacked because they were Punjabis,” said Muhammad Mohsin, a senior police official in Gwadar, adding that six were killed and one was injured.
A second police official Zohaib Ahmad confirmed the death toll. According to Gwadar Police Station Station House Officer (SHO) Mohsin Ali, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a residential quarter near the Gwadar Fish Harbour in the Surbandar area, leaving seven dead and one injured.
The attacked migrant workers had shifted from Punjab to Balochistan near China-handled Gwadar port. The police reported that the workers who had migrated were working as barbers and were likely targeted because of their identity.
But the CM of Balochistan, Sarfraz Bugti has condemned the killing of the workers in Gwadar. Bugti also sought a report on the matter, maintaining that ‘all kinds of force will be used to arrest the terrorists and their facilitators.’
Balochistan Home Minister Mir Zia Ullah Langau has ordered an investigation into the killing of the seven deceased, terming it “open terrorism”. He has also said the killing of workers is a cowardly move, terrorists will be dealt with strictly.
Punjabis in particular are perceived to dominate the ranks of the military which is locked in a battle to quash Balochistan’s armed factions.
Last month 11 Punjabi labourers were killed in the region when six gunmen stopped a bus near the city of Naushki in Balochistan province.
