QUETTA/LAHORE: Five labourers from Punjab were shot dead and another was critically wounded when armed men opened fire on a road construction crew in the Saranan area of Balochistan’s Pishin district on Monday, officials said, in the second major attack to hit the town in less than a week.
The workers were building a road in the Saranan Sulemanzai area, along the Quetta-Chaman Highway, roughly 57 kilometres from the provincial capital. Balochistan Chief Minister’s Adviser for Information and Political Affairs Shahid Rind said in an official statement that the labourers were working on an under-construction road when armed men targeted them.
A senior police officer posted in the area, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attackers arrived at the site on motorcycles and opened fire, killing five labourers on the spot. Sources said the assailants also fired at heavy machinery deployed for a double-road project, damaging equipment before fleeing.
Police and security forces reached the site shortly after the attack and moved the bodies and the injured worker to the district hospital. The area was cordoned off and a search operation was launched to trace those responsible.
Baber Yousafzai, an aide at the Balochistan Home Department, confirmed the victims’ identities to Arab News. “Five laborers who belonged to Punjab province were killed in this latest attack,” he said, adding that the bodies had been shifted to Quetta before being sent on to their native villages.
No group had claimed responsibility for the shooting at the time of filing. Radio Pakistan, citing initial reports, attributed the attack to what the state broadcaster described as “Fitna al-Hindustan” terrorists — the term Pakistani officials use for India-linked separatist militants — and said the labourers had travelled to the province in connection with fruit trading. Other officials and eyewitness accounts placed the men at a road construction site.
The killings came days after armed men stormed Saranan town on August 20, took control of the local police station and destroyed it with planted explosives in broad daylight. Officials said no one was killed or injured in that assault, though the building was badly damaged. The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility.
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti condemned the attack in a statement issued by his office. “Once again, innocent Pakistanis have been targeted and martyred in terrorism,” he said, adding that the attackers had crossed all limits of humanity.
Bugti said the labourers were earning a living for their families while contributing to the development of the province. “Targeting them is clear proof of the brutal mindset of the terrorists,” he said. “Those shedding the blood of innocent laborers deserve no leniency.”
He said state institutions would continue operations against militant elements with full force, adding: “The war against terrorism has entered a decisive phase, and terrorists and their facilitators will be brought to justice at all costs.”
Rind echoed the condemnation, calling the targeting of workers “a grave crime against humanity” and saying such attacks could not shatter the peace, development or resolve of the people of Balochistan.
In Lahore, Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday strongly condemned the firing on the labourers. In a statement, she expressed deep grief and sorrow over the deaths, extended condolences to the bereaved families, prayed for the departed souls and expressed solidarity with the affected households.
Labourers from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been repeatedly targeted in Balochistan. Last month, five barbers from Punjab were shot dead in Mashkail by men riding motorbikes who opened fire inside a barber shop. Police also recovered six bullet-riddled bodies of abducted labourers from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Nasir Abad, about 40 kilometres from Turbat. In April, five Punjab labourers were injured when unidentified men on motorcycles hurled a hand grenade at a house in Dalbandin, Chagai district.
The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, in its monthly assessment released on July 31, reported that Balochistan recorded the sharpest deterioration in the country’s security situation during the preceding month. The overall death toll in the province rose 241 per cent, from 109 in June to 372 in July.
Security personnel deaths climbed from six to 62 — a 933 per cent increase — while militant deaths rose from 75 to 238. Civilian deaths increased 93 per cent, from 28 to 54. Eighteen members of peace committees were also killed in the province during the period.
Separatist groups, the BLA foremost among them, demand a larger share of Balochistan’s resources for local populations and accuse the state of exploitation — allegations rejected by both the government and the military, which has conducted thousands of security operations in the region. Islamabad accuses New Delhi of backing militant groups in the province, a charge India denies.
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