PANJGUR: At least five people were killed and two were injured after unknown gunmen opened fire on locals at the site of a dam in Balochistan’s Panjgur district, said provincial government Shahid Rind on Tuesday.
The locals were responsible for the maintenance of the dam, said the official.
The attack, as per the district administration, was carried out in Paroom area with Levies officials attributing the shooting incident to armed men on motorcycles.
The attack comes almost a month after unknown assailants shot and killed seven labourers — hailing from different areas in Punjab — in the district.
The southwestern province, the country’s largest by area, has faced the brunt of terrorist attacks along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the wake of the rise in terror incidents in recent months with the two provinces accounting for 97% of the total 722 fatalities in the first three quarters of the ongoing year, as per a report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).
Earlier this month, 20 colliers were killed in a rocket attack on coalmines in Balochsitan’s Duki district prompting more than 40,000 labourers to return to their native areas.
Providing details on the latest incident, the district administration said that the bodies of the victims have been shifted to the Panjgur Teaching Hospital, while further investigation was underway.
Reacting to the terrorist attack, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti condemned the incident terming it “unforgiveable”.
Referring to the terrorists as followers of anti-national elements, who opposed development and peace in the province, the chief minister vowed to bring those responsible for the cowardly attack to justice..
