New Delhi: Gunmen killed 20 miners and injured seven others in Pakistan’s southwest region. The attack took place just days before the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the capital.
The gunmen stormed the workers’ accommodations at a coal mine in Duki district late Thursday night. They gathered the men and then opened fire, a police officer was quoted as saying.
Most of the victims were from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan. Among the dead were three Afghans, and four others from Afghanistan were injured, Hindustan Times reported.
The attack comes just days before the high-profile Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, chaired by Pakistan, which is set to take place in Islamabad on October 16 and 17. Various heads of state, including Chinese Premier Li Qiang, are expected to attend.
Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar is slated to visit Pakistan for the SCO summit on October 15, marking his first trip to the country. This will also be the first visit by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan in nearly nine years, with Sushma Swaraj being the last to visit in December 2015.
As part of heightened security measures, restaurants, wedding halls, cafes, and snooker clubs in Islamabad and Rawalpindi will be temporarily closed from October 12 to 16, ANI reported.
Notably, Balochistan is home to separatist groups seeking independence. The groups blame Islamabad for exploiting the province’s oil and mineral wealth at the cost of local people.
On Monday, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for an attack on Chinese nationals outside Pakistan’s largest airport.
Thousands of Chinese workers are in Pakistan, primarily involved in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.