QUETTA:
Balochistan witnessed two violent incidents on Saturday, as unidentified gunmen killed four labourers in Kalat district, while assailants opened fire on a police mobile in Noshki district, martyring four cops.
A statement from Kalat DC Captain (retd) Jamil Baloch noted that “unknown assailants opened fire and killed four labourers” in the Malangzai area of Kalat’s Mangochar city around 2:30pm.
The statement said there was one survivor and the five individuals, residents of Sadiqabad, were working as borewell drillers. It further noted that Levies personnel reached the site, adding that the bodies were taken to Rural Health Centre Mande Haji for medical examination.
“Further investigation is under way and FIR will be lodged against those responsible,” the DC said.
Although no group immediately claimed responsibility for the gruesome slaying, similar executions have been carried out by the banned BLA terrorists in the past.
Soon after, another attack on a police mobile in Noshki district martyred four policemen, while the assailants fled the scene.
Security forces launched a search operation to track down the perpetrators.
No group had claimed responsibility for either attack until the filing of this report.
President Asif Zardari strongly condemned the attack and called for effective action against terrorist elements targeting unarmed labourers.
“Targeting innocent workers and civilians is a most brutal and condemnable act,” he said in a statement.
Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said those who targeted poor labourers and workers were the “enemies of humanity” and resolved to eliminate all forms of terrorism from the country.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the attacks as a “brutal act of terrorism”.
“The blood of the martyrs will be accounted for and the anti-state elements will be made an example of. Every conspiracy to disrupt the peace of Balochistan will fail!” he stated in a post on X.
Balochistan has witnessed a surge in violence, with the recent hijacking of the Jaffar Express in the province’s Bolan district last week.
Last month, unidentified armed men killed seven people travelling to Punjab after off-loading them from a passenger bus in the Barkhan district.
In two separate incidents in April 2024, nine people were killed after being forced off a bus near Noshki, while two labourers from Punjab were shot in Kech.
In May last year, seven barbers from Punjab were shot dead near Gwadar. Similarly, in August, 23 travelers were taken off trucks and buses and fatally shot in Musakhail district.
