Pakistani police said Friday insurgents had carried out a predawn attack at a coal mine in southwestern Balochistan, resulting in the deaths of at least 20 workers and injuries to several others.
Assailants, armed with heavy weapons, such as rockets and grenades, assaulted the miners' housing in the Duki district of the sparsely populated province, rich in natural resources. Police officers told reporters the gunmen set fire to the mining machinery before fleeing.
Medical staff at a district hospital said at least seven survivors were receiving treatment.
Area administration officials said that most of those killed and injured were residents of Balochistan districts dominated by ethnic Pashtuns, with at least three Afghan refugee workers among them.
No group immediately took responsibility for the carnage, but in recent weeks, the insurgent Baloch Liberation Army has intensified attacks in the province, killing scores of Pakistani security forces and civilians.
They included BLA-claimed daylong guerrilla raids against security installations and passenger vehicles in August, resulting in the deaths of more than 50 people.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and provincial leaders condemned Friday’s attack, which they branded as “terrorist,” saying the perpetrators had an agenda to “destabilize” Pakistan.
“The terrorists have once again targeted poor laborers … the killing of these innocent laborers will be avenged,” said Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti.
Violence strains China ties
On Monday, a BLA-claimed suicide car bombing near the airport in Karachi, capital of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, killed two Chinese engineers and injured at least 10 people, including a Chinese national and local security personnel. The Chinese were part of the staff at a Beijing-built coal-fired power plant in the largest Pakistani city, home to a busy port.
China said Friday its “inter-agency working group” had arrived in Islamabad a day after the attack to press Pakistan to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals working in the country.
In a statement published on its website, the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry said the working group “asked the Pakistani side to properly handle ensuing matters … conduct thorough investigations, bring all the perpetrators to justice, and step up security measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, institutions, and projects in Pakistan.”
Thousands of Chinese engineers and workers are in Pakistan, including Balochistan, most associated with the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor infrastructure development project under China’s Belt and Road Initiative. At least 21 Chinese nationals have been killed in the country since 2017.
BLA and several separatist groups active in Balochistan claim to be fighting for its independence, accusing Islamabad and Beijing of exploiting the province’s resources.
China and Pakistan reject the charges as baseless, saying the violent campaign is solely aimed at hampering economic improvement in the impoverished region.
The surge in insurgent attacks in Balochistan and the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reportedly claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Pakistanis, half of them civilians and the rest security forces, since the start of 2024. Both provinces border Afghanistan
Pakistan alleges that fugitive Baloch separatists and militants linked to the anti-state Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan are increasingly using sanctuaries on Afghan soil to plot cross-border terrorism.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government rejects the charges.
SCO summit
The recent spike in violence in Pakistan comes ahead of the Islamabad-hosted summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization October 15-16.
The SCO is a security, political, and economic alliance established by China, Russia, and Central Asian countries in 2001 to counterbalance U.S.-led Western alliances. It grew to nine countries after long-standing rivals Pakistan and India became members in 2017, and Iran joined in 2023.
Officials have said Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang is to visit the Pakistani capital for bilateral talks before participating in the SCO heads of government meeting.
The Pakistani government has also deployed troops and declared a three-day public holiday in Islamabad and the adjoining garrison city of Rawalpindi as part of wide-ranging security measures to safeguard the high-profile conference.
