QUETTA: Unidentified armed men opened fire at Pishokan and Ganz on the Mekran Coast on Saturday morning, killing at least 10 laborers who hailed from Sindh.

According to Levies sources, armed men riding on motorbikes opened indiscriminate firing on laborers working on Pishokan and Ganz constructions site on the Mekran Coast and managed to escape following the attack. Both Pishokan and Ganz are historic fishing stations known for being centres of Portuguese colonial rulers in this area.

“As a result, 10 laborers of a private construction company were killed on the spot and one sustained bullet injuries.” Levies sources said and added that all the deceased and injured belonged to Naushero Feroz in Central Sindh.

“Ten labourers working on Pishokan-Ganz Road came under sudden attack killing eight people on the spot, while two others sustained injuries. The victims belonged to Nauushero Feroz, Sindh,” said Deputy Commissioner Gwadar Naeem Bazai.

”One labour killed on the spot while armed men opened fire on the under construction building,” said Hazoor Bakhsh a labour who injured in the second firing incident.
Security forces rushed to the site soon after receiving information about both the incidents and shifted the bodies and injured to the hospitals in Pishokan and Gwadar. Later, one of the injured succumbed to his injuries in the Pishokan hospital.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killing so far. However, such attacks had been carried out by the Baloch insurgent groups in Mekran region in the past.

Rescue workers and Law Enforcement Agencies rushed to the site of incident and evacuated the bodies to District Headquarter Hospital Gwadar.

Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, who is on six days’ visit to China with Prime Minister in connection with OBOR, condemned laborers killing in Gwadar strongly.

“Such coward attacks can’t prevent development and prosperity in Gwadar and Balochistan,” Nawab Sanaullah Zehri said and directed immediate arrest of killers behind the attack.

Funeral prayers of the deceased were held in Gwadar where Commander Southern Command Lieutenant General Amir Riaz also participated in the funeral prayers.

The deceased laborers were identified as Muhammad Khan, Ali Dost, Subahn, Abdul Hakeem, Rasool, Waheed, Zaheer, Saddam and Asif.

Provincial Home Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti regretted the killing of innocent laborers and said, “The terrorists are targeting soft targets after taking dictations from their foreign masters.”

“The Provincial Government would revenge the killing innocent laborers and we will wipe off the menace of terrorism from our soil,” he added.

Bodies of the slain laborers were shifted to Nawab Shah by a C-130 plane.