Armed attackers kill 20 miners in southwest Pakistan | News

The attack is the latest in Balochistan province and security concerns are growing ahead of a key international summit in Islamabad.

Armed attackers killed 20 miners and injured another seven at a small private coal mine in southwestern Pakistan, police said, raising security concerns just days before a major international summit in the country.

The attackers broke into miners’ quarters in Dukki district of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Thursday evening, gathered the workers and opened fire, local police officer Hamayun Khan Nasir said on Friday.

“A group of armed men attacked the Junaid Coal Company mines [Dukki] area in the [early] For hours with heavy weapons,” he said, adding that the attackers also fired rockets and grenades at the mines.

According to Nasir, most of the victims came from Pashtun-speaking regions in Balochistan. Three of the deceased and four of the injured were Afghan nationals.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Balochistan is a hotbed of armed movements, most notably the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). They accuse the central government in Islamabad of exploiting the province’s rich oil and mineral resources to the detriment of the local population in the country’s largest and least populated province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.

On Monday, the BLA – designated a terrorist group by Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States – claimed responsibility for an attack on Chinese nationals near Pakistan’s largest airport.

The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said at least two of its citizens were killed and a third injured after their convoy was attacked with an improvised explosive device believed to have been detonated by a suicide bomber.

According to local media reports, at least ten people were injured in total, with four cars destroyed in the explosion and ten other vehicles damaged in the resulting fire.

Thousands of Chinese nationals work in Pakistan, many of whom are involved in Beijing’s multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure project.

Despite China’s repeated calls for Pakistan to increase security, there has been a rise in attacks and unrest related to key Belt and Road infrastructure projects in the country.

The attack has raised concerns about the ability of Pakistani security forces to protect high-profile events and foreign nationals ahead of next week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization heads of government summit, scheduled for October 15 and 16 in Islamabad.