Gunmen killed 20 miners and wounded another seven in Pakistan’s southwest, a police official said Friday.
It’s the latest attack in restive Balochistan province and comes days ahead of a major security summit being hosted in the capital, reports AP.
Police official Hamayun Khan Nasir said the gunmen stormed the accommodations at the coal mine in Duki district late Thursday night, rounded up the men and opened fire.
Most of the men were from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan. Three of the dead and four of the wounded were Afghan.
Nobody claimed immediate responsibility for the attack.
The province is home to separatist groups who want independence. They accuse the federal government in Islamabad of unfairly exploiting oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan at the expense of locals.
Bd pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
