Authorities in Pakistan’s violence-hit Balochistan province said Tuesday that armed men attacked workers at a dam construction site, killing five people and injuring two others.
The deadly shooting occurred in Panjgur district, a sparsely populated province in Pakistan known for its rich natural resources. According to residents, the attackers fled the scene on motorcycles immediately after the attack.
State government spokesperson Shahid Rind confirmed the casualties and said local authorities had launched an investigation into the attack. The two injured men and their bodies were taken to a local hospital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence in Balochistan. Several separatist groups are active in Balochistan and routinely target Pakistani security forces and government facilities.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Tuesday’s attack. “Those who attacked the personnel working at the dam are enemies of the development of Pakistan and Balochistan,” Sharif’s office in Islamabad quoted him as saying.
Earlier this month, heavily armed assailants attacked a coal mine in the state’s Duki district, killing 21 coal workers.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has been or has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks. The rebel group, designated a global terrorist organization by the United States, claims it is fighting for the state’s independence.
The BLA also confirmed a suicide car bombing in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi in early October that authorities said killed two Chinese engineers and several local security personnel.
Separately, on Tuesday, gunmen killed a police officer in an attack on a health office in northwestern Khyber Pakhtankhwa province. A polio vaccination team was gathering at the health office as part of the ongoing national immunization campaign.
The shooting incident in Orakzai district prompted authorities to suspend polio eradication efforts in the area. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but state authorities suspect Islamic militants may be behind it.
Militants operating in the region have previously targeted polio teams and their police escorts on suspicion of being government spies.
The attack on polio workers comes as the number of active cases of the paralytic poliovirus in Pakistan has increased significantly, from just six in 2023 to 41 this year.
Meanwhile, the Russian embassy in Islamabad said on social media platform
According to a report in the Moscow Times, the missing man was identified as a bicycle tourist and a resident of the city of St. Petersburg. Pakistani authorities have not commented on the abduction claims by militants loyal to Pakistan’s banned Taliban organization.
Militant attacks occur almost daily in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, which border Afghanistan. The violence has killed more than 1,000 Pakistani civilians and security forces this year alone, according to the Islamabad-based Independent Center for Research and Security Studies.
