ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Armed men kidnapped and killed at least 11 coal miners in southwest Pakistan early Sunday, officials said. All the victims were of the Hazaras ethnicity, a Shiite minority group that has always been the target of Sunni extremists.
Another four miners were injured and in medical treatment, officials said.
Officials said the events took place in Machh, a small mining town in the province of Balochistan, about 30 miles east of Quetta, the provincial capital. They said the attackers blindfolded the miners, tied their hands behind their backs and shot them at close range. Most of the victims’ throats were also cut. The bodies were found on Sunday morning.
“The front clothes were almost completely stained with blood,” said Ali Raza, a Hazara activist who received the bodies in Quetta, in a telephone interview. “Bruises on bodies also suggest that they were dragged.”
Mir Ziaullah Langau, Interior Minister for Balochistan Province, said security forces are on high alert and looking for attackers.
No group immediately took responsibility for the attack. But the Hazaras have long lived in a state of perpetual fear, having faced repeated attacks over the years from Sunni extremists. In Balochistan, these attacks are usually carried out by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a fanatical group that considers Shiites heretics.
The Hazara are Persian-speaking people who emigrated from neighboring Afghanistan more than a century ago and live mainly in two fortified enclaves in Quetta. Local authorities estimate its population at 500,000.
When news of the deaths spread through the community on Sunday, Hazaras took to the streets in protest, blocking a highway near Quetta. The bodies were placed on the road while protesters called on the government and security forces to keep promises to ensure their safety.
“This is an attempt to sabotage peace in the province and provoke sectarian strife,” said Haji Jawad, a local Hazara leader, referring to the killings. “We urge the government to bring the perpetrators to justice immediately.”
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the violence in a Twitter post, calling the attacks “yet another cowardly and inhuman act of terrorism”. He said he instructed local security forces “to use all resources to arrest these killers” and that affected families would be served.
The southwestern province of Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and poorest region, filled with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies. It borders Iran and Afghanistan and, although sparsely populated, it is rich in mineral and natural resources, including copper, gold and natural gas.
The local population has long complained that an adequate share of the wealth generated by these resources is denied, and separatists have been waging a low-intensity insurgency for decades, demanding freedom from the federal government. Pakistani officials say the separatist groups have the support of India, the country’s main rival.
The Taliban also maintain sanctuaries in parts of the province near the border with Afghanistan.
Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud contributed reports.