QUETTA (AFP) – Ten labourers were killed yesterday when their vehicle was hit by a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) in southwest Pakistan, an official said.
Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency by separatist groups in impoverished Balochistan, with violence in the border regions surging over the past three years.
Yesterday, a group of labourers were travelling to a market in Harnai district when it was hit by the blast, said local government official Saleem Tareen, adding that it was “an IED blast”.
“Ten mine workers were killed in an attack in Harnai district,” added Shahzad Zahri, another senior government official. Harnai is over 160 kilometres from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province in southwestern Pakistan.
In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed his “commitment to actively working towards eradicating the menace of terrorism from the country”.
No group has claimed the attack.
However, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is the most active group in the region and often carries out deadly attacks against security forces or Pakistanis from other provinces.
The group has also targeted energy projects with foreign financing – accusing outsiders of exploiting the resource-rich region while excluding residents in the poorest part of Pakistan.
Earlier this month, a vehicle carrying troops in a town in Balochistan came under fire from 70 to 80 assailants who had blocked the road
In another attack in January, at least six people including Pakistani paramilitary troops were killed and scores injured in a bombing.
Both the attacks were claimed by BLA. Last year, in one of the deadliest attacks in the region according to analysts, BLA separatist militants killed at least 39 people in “coordinated” attacks that largely targeted ethnic Punjabis.
Violence has surged in Pakistan’s border regions since the Afghan Taleban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Pakistan has accused the Taleban government of failing to rout out militants who launch attacks from Afghan soil, a charge it denies.
