At least 21 coal miners were killed on Friday when a group of around 40 armed assailants launched a violent attack on a cluster of private coal mines in southwestern Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The attackers, wielding guns, rockets, and grenades, shot some miners while they slept and others after lining them up, according to local police reports.
The attack took place in the Duki area, which lies in a mineral-rich part of Balochistan near the borders with Afghanistan and Iran. It occurred just days before Pakistan is set to host a summit for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The brutal assault is the latest in a string of violent incidents in the province, which has seen frequent clashes due to a decades-long insurgency by separatist groups.
Regional police official Asif Shafi reported that the attackers stayed at the scene for about an hour and a half, during which they fired rockets, hurled grenades, and set fire to machinery and equipment at the mining site. Kaleemullah Kakar, a senior government official in the district, confirmed that seven people were wounded in the attack, while four of the dead were identified as Afghan nationals.
The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack and announced that its consulate in Quetta would facilitate the transfer of the bodies. In Duki, businesses shut down as hundreds gathered in protest, demanding the arrest of those responsible.
Khairullah Nasar, the mine owner and head of the district council, said his workers had been receiving threats from militants, but they were not warned of the impending assault. He added that the attackers burned down all 10 mines in the area, along with the equipment inside.
Balochistan has been plagued by insurgent violence for years, with separatist militant groups demanding a greater share of the region’s mineral resources. Attacks have been rising in recent months, often targeting government forces, Chinese interests, and migrant workers, including Afghan nationals.
The provincial governor, Jafar Khan Mandokhel, condemned the attack as “inhuman,” calling out the separatist groups for their actions against innocent laborers. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also vowed to “root out all forms of terrorism” in a statement following the incident.
Authorities have opened an investigation and filed a terrorism case against the unknown attackers.
