Gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on construction workers, killing 10 in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said Saturday.

Mineral-rich Balochistan has been plagued for decades by a separatist uprising and sectarian killings. Gunmen have previously targeted labourers seen as outsiders in the region.

"Two gunmen riding on motorbikes opened fire on a group of construction workers in Peshukan Ganz neighbourhood of Gwadar," local administration official Munir Zamari told AFP news agency.

The attack has been claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an armed separatist group that has been fighting for an independent homeland for the ethnic Baloch.

"We accept responsibility for the Gwadar attack," BLA spokesperson Jeander Baloch said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera.

"This conspiratorial plan [CPEC] is not acceptable to the Baloch people under any circumstances. Baloch independence movements have made it clear several times that they will not abandon their people's future in the name of development projects or even democracy."

READ MORE: Does the China-Pakistan economic corridor worry India?

Balochistan is the largest of Pakistan's four provinces, but its seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.



The BLA is among a number of armed groups that have been fighting the Pakistani state for about a decade, targeting security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.

The push includes starting work on a massive Chinese infrastructure project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which gives Beijing a route to the Arabian Sea through Balochistan's deep sea port of Gwadar.</s>Attack was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army, which has been fighting for an independent homeland for the Baloch.

Gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on construction workers, killing 10 in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said Saturday.

Mineral-rich Balochistan has been plagued for decades by a separatist uprising and sectarian killings. Gunmen have previously targeted labourers seen as outsiders in the region.

"Two gunmen riding on motorbikes opened fire on a group of construction workers in Peshukan Ganz neighbourhood of Gwadar," local administration official Munir Zamari told AFP news agency.

The attack has been claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an armed separatist group that has been fighting for an independent homeland for the ethnic Baloch.

"They were FWO [the military's construction arm] workers, working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor," Shahshan Baloch, a BLA spokesman, told Al Jazeera.

 

The attack was carried out by four BLA fighters on motorcycles, said Baloch.

READ MORE: Does the China-Pakistan economic corridor worry India?

Balochistan is the largest of Pakistan's four provinces, but its roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.

 

The BLA is among a number of armed groups that have been fighting the Pakistani state for about a decade, targeting security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.

The push includes starting work on a massive Chinese infrastructure project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which gives Beijing a route to the Arabian Sea through Balochistan's deep sea port of Gwadar.</s>At least 10 labourers were killed and two injured in two separate firing incidents in Pakistan’s southwest port city of Gwadar in Balochistan on Saturday.

The incidents took place in the Pishgan and Ganth Road areas of Gwadar, Geo News reported. Unidentified assailants on motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire on the labourers and fled the scene.

Sarfraz Bugti, Home Minister of Balochistan province, said that the labourers were working on road construction projects when they came under attack.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks. A search operation by local paramilitary forces was underway.

“We will not bow down before terrorists,” said Bugti condemning the attack.

Deputy Commissioner of Gwadar Naeem Bazai said that all the victims were natives of Naushero Feroze district, located in neighbouring Sindh province.

The incident came as Pakistan and China inked various infrastructure agreements, including on setting up ports and for further developing Gwadar port, ahead of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) forum that begins on Sunday.</s>Quetta - Gunmen Saturday opened fire on construction workers, killing 10 in Gwadar - the emerging port city which is expected to serve as hub of regional and transnational trade in near future.

Mineral-rich Balochistan, where Gwader is located, has been plagued for decades by a separatist insurgency and sectarian killings and gunmen have previously targeted labourers seen as outsiders in the region.

The shootings come a day after a suicide bomber targeting Senate Deputy Chairman Abdul Ghafoor Haideri killed 28 people and injured 40. Haideri himself survived the Friday’s attack - claimed by Islamic State - in Mastung.

Ten labourers were gunned down while working on link roads to connect outlying towns to the country’s $57-billion Chinese “Belt and Road” initiative, security officials confirmed.

“Two gunmen riding on motorbikes opened fire on a group of construction workers in Peshukan Ganz town of Gwadar,” local administration official Munir Zamari told a foreign news agency. “One worker sustained injuries and he is being treated at a local hospital,” he added.

The incident, which came some 20 kilometres from the main Gwadar city, was also confirmed by Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Naeem Bazai, who said that all the workers were from Naushahro Feroze district of Sindh.

AFP reported that a spokesman for the separatist Baloch Liberation Army had claimed responsibility for the incident in a telephone call to the news agency.

The men killed and wounded on Saturday had been working for a private construction company on a provincial government project at two separate construction sites, three kilometres apart along the same road at Peshukan and Ganz areas, according to Makran Division Commissioner Bashir Bangulzai.

“Eight labourers embraced martyrdom on spot, while two were seriously wounded – of which one worker succumbed to injuries on way to hospital,” Gwadar DC Naeem Bazai told The Nation. Another worker was separately shot dead at Ganz by the same attackers while he was constructing a boundary wall.

“All the labourers were shot at close range,” said senior levies official Muhammad Zareef. The levies are a paramilitary force that oversees security in Balochistan where police jurisdiction is limited to major urban centres.

“I saw two men coming from Peshukan side and I talked to them in Balochi,” Qadir Bakhsh, an eyewitness told The Nation. “They asked me to step aside, displaying their guns. They told Sindhi labourers to stand in a line and then they shot them in the head one after another.”

Qadir Bakhsh said the dead labourers had been working at different projects in and around Gwader for last one and a half years. He said there was no security arrangement for them at the site they were killed.

But district administration officials claimed the workers had come from Sindh to work in Balochistan only a month ago.

The law enforcement agencies rushed to the murder sites and launched a search after cordoning off the area; however, no arrest had been made till the filing of this report.

Nine of the ten dead were identified as Muhammad Khan, Ali Dost, Shuban, Abdul Hakim, Rasool Bakhsh, Waheed, Zaheer and Sadam. The surviving worker was identified as Hazoor Bakhsh.

The funeral prayer of martyred workers was offered at Senator Marwoom Ishaq Cricket Ground at 3pm.

Edhi sources said the head of the welfare organisation, Faisal Edhi, had left for Gwadar along with ambulances and he will transport the dead bodies to Karachi, from where they will be transported to their respective areas in Sindh.

Balochistan Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai and Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri denounced the gruesome incident and dubbed the act as a futile attempt of terrorists to hinder the progress and development of Gwadar and Balochistan.

The roads the labourers were working on are not specific CPEC-funded projects, but they are part of a network of connecting roads that are part of the corridor.

The gruesome murders by a separatist organisation just a day after the deadly IS attack on Haideri’s convey in Balochistan shows the gravity of security challenge in the province.

Following the Mastung and Gwadar terrorist attacks, a high level security coordination conference was held in Southern Command headquarters on Saturday to review the security situation in province.

The moot was attended by Commander Southern Command Lt-General Aamir Riaz, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, Chief Secretary Auranzab Haq, Additional Inspector General of Police and other senior civil and military officials.

The participants discussed the challenges being faced by the security and law enforcement agencies in view of militant and terrorist activities and expressed their resolve to bring enduring peace and stability in the province through a comprehensive and coordinated joint response. The participants also offered Fatiha for the martyred of Mastung and Gwadar incidents.

Balochistan is the largest of Pakistan’s four provinces, but its roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.

The push includes starting work on a massive Chinese infrastructure project – the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – which gives Beijing a route to the Arabian Sea through Balochistan that forms the southern hub of CPEC.

Gwadar’s deep-water port is the exit point for the planned route from China’s far-western Xinjiang region to the Arabian Sea.

Nadeem Javaid, who advises Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government and works closely on the CPEC program, told Reuters earlier in the week that the Gwadar-Xinjiang corridor should be operational from June next year. He said Pakistan expects up to 4 percent of global trade to pass through it by 2020.

But all this development still faces serious security concerns. Separatist militants in the province have waged a campaign against the central government for decades, demanding a greater share of the gas-rich region’s resources.

Security officials have said previously that militants trying to disrupt construction on the “economic corridor” have killed 44 workers since 2014, all of whom were Pakistani.

Pakistan’s military created an army division in 2015, believed to number more than 10,000 troops, specifically to protect CPEC projects and Chinese workers.

Sanaullah Zehri denounced the gruesome incident and dubbed the act as a futile attempt of terrorists to hinder the progress and development of Gwadar and Balochistan.

The roads the labourers were working on are not specific CPEC-funded projects, but they are part of a network of connecting roads that are part of the corridor.

The gruesome murders by a separatist organisation just a day after the deadly IS attack on Haideri’s convey in Balochistan shows the gravity of security challenge in the province.

Following the Mastung and Gwadar terrorist attacks, a high level security coordination conference was held in Southern Command headquarters on Saturday to review the security situation in province.

The moot was attended by Commander Southern Command Lt-General Aamir Riaz, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, Chief Secretary Auranzab Haq, Additional Inspector General of Police and other senior civil and military officials.

The participants discussed the challenges being faced by the security and law enforcement agencies in view of militant and terrorist activities and expressed their resolve to bring enduring peace and stability in the province through a comprehensive and coordinated joint response. The participants also offered Fatiha for the martyred of Mastung and Gwadar incidents.

Balochistan is the largest of Pakistan’s four provinces, but its roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.

The push includes starting work on a massive Chinese infrastructure project – the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – which gives Beijing a route to the Arabian Sea through Balochistan that forms the southern hub of CPEC.

Gwadar’s deep-water port is the exit point for the planned route from China’s far-western Xinjiang region to the Arabian Sea.

Nadeem Javaid, who advises Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government and works closely on the CPEC program, told Reuters earlier in the week that the Gwadar-Xinjiang corridor should be operational from June next year. He said Pakistan expects up to 4 percent of global trade to pass through it by 2020.

But all this development still faces serious security concerns. Separatist militants in the province have waged a campaign against the central government for decades, demanding a greater share of the gas-rich region’s resources.

Security officials have said previously that militants trying to disrupt construction on the “economic corridor” have killed 44 workers since 2014, all of whom were Pakistani.

Pakistan’s military created an army division in 2015, believed to number more than 10,000 troops, specifically to protect CPEC projects and Chinese workers.</s>Karachi: At least 10 labourers working on a road project near Pakistan's strategic Gwadar port in the restive Balochistan province were shot dead by unidentified motorcycle-borne gunmen on Saturday.

Gwadar deputy commissioner Naeem Bazai said the labourers worked on a road project and were from Sindh province. The labourers were attacked and shot from close range, said Muhammad Zareef, a senior paramilitary official. "They were working at two separate sites just two kilometres away from each other," he said.

Eight of the labourers died on the spot while two succumbed on their way to hospital.

The motorcycle-borne gunmen who fired indiscriminately fled the scene after the attack.

A special military C-130 aircraft flew the remains of the slain labourers for funerals to their hometown in Sindh's Naushahro Feroze district, the official said. The outlawed separatist group Baluch Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for the attack. Such attacks have become common in the mineral-rich province plagued by separatist insurgency since 2004.

Suspected separatists often target non-native labourers in the province. Last month, four Sindhi labourers were gunned down by suspected militants in Kharan district.

Balochistan's Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti confirmed the death toll. Condemning the incident, he said, "We will not bow down before terrorists."

Frontier Corps, police and Levies personnel have reached the spot and an investigation was underway. The attack comes a day after a suicide bombing targeted a convoy of Deputy Chairman Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri. The attack in Mustang killed 26 people.

Saturday's attack happened near the Gwadar port, built with Chinese funding, as Pakistan and China ink agreements at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing to boost bilateral cooperation.

The deep-water port has a strategic importance for the Belt and Road initiative, a part of which — the $ 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — connects Pakistan's southern region to China's western Xinjiang region through rail and roads.

The CPEC is billed as a 'game-changer' and manifestation of strategic partnership between Pakistan and China.

Pakistan has deployed a Maritime Security Force and Special Security Division to protect projects under CPEC, including Gwadar. The forces have been deployed to ensure safety of locals and foreigners working on the projects.</s>GWADAR: At least 10 people were killed and another was injured in two separate attacks in Balochistan near Gwadar , official sources said on Saturday.

"All the labourers were shot at close range," said senior levies official Muhammad Zareef, adding that the shooters were travelling on a motorcycle.

Rescuers, police, and paramilitary troops were dispatched to Pishgan and Gant Road where gunmen targeted Labourers who had been working for the provincial government at two separate construction sites on three kilometres apart along the same road.

Two labourers wounded in the shootings were taken to hospital where one of them died from his injuries, Zareef said.

The roads the labourers were working on are not specific CPEC-funded projects, but they are part of a network of connecting roads that are part of the corridor.

No group has admitted responsibility for the shootings but past attacks in the region have been carried out by separatists

Geo News correspondent said the deceased belong to Naushahro Feroz area of Sindh whose bodies have been shifted to a hospital for medico-legal formalities. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Speaking to Geo TV, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said eight people lost their lives in the attack.

The attack comes a day after suicide bombing targeting a convoy of JUI-F leader and Deputy Chairman Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri killed 26 people in Mustung.

Haideri was wounded in the attack that occurred as his convoy left a girls' only seminary, where he had attended a graduation ceremony.

Pakistan has been battling a low level insurgency in mineral-rich Balochistan since 2004.

A greater push towards peace and development by authorities has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.

The push includes starting work on a massive Chinese infrastructure project -- the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor -- which gives Beijing a route to the Arabian Sea through Balochistan´s deep sea port of Gwadar.</s>Gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on construction workers, killing 10 in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said Saturday.

Mineral-rich Balochistan has been plagued for decades by a separatist insurgency and sectarian killings and gunmen have previously targeted labourers seen as outsiders in the region.

“Two gunmen riding on motorbikes opened fire on a group of construction workers in Peshukan Ganz neighbourhood of Gwadar,” local administration official Munir Zamari told AFP.

“One worker sustained injuries and he is being treated at a local hospital,” he added.

The incident was confirmed by another administration official Naeem Bazai, who said that all the workers were from Sindh province.

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Balochistan is the largest of Pakistan’s four provinces, but its roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.

The push includes starting work on a massive Chinese infrastructure project — the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor — which gives Beijing a route to the Arabian Sea through Balochistan’s deep sea port of Gwadar.

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Also, Like us on facebook</s>Gwadar's deep-water port is exit point for planned route from China's Xinjiang region to Arabian Sea.</s>Deputy Commissioner of Gwadar Naeem Bazai said that all the victims were natives of Naushero Feroze district, located in neighbouring Sindh province. At least 10 labourers were killed and two injured in two separate firing incidents in Pakistan's southwest port city of Gwadar in Balochistan on Saturday.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Indian Express.</s>QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani official says gunmen have killed 10 laborers who were working on a road project in the country’s southwest

Local police official Abdul Salam says the attack took place Saturday near the recently completed Gwadar port in Baluchistan province, which was built with Chinese funding. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

China is building a network of roads and power plants under a project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC. However, Salam said the road where the attack took place is not part of the project.

Saturday’s incident comes a day after a bomber dispatched by the Islamic State group carried out an attack in Baluchistan that injured Pakistani lawmaker Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and killed 25 people.
Gunmen open fire on construction workers at Gwadar Port, Pakistan, killing at least 10 people. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.