1st LD: 20 laborers killed in camp firing in SW Pakistan

At least 20 laborers were killed and three others injured when some unknown gunmen opened fire at a camp in Pakistan's southwest Turbat district in the wee hours of Saturday morning, officials said.

District Commissioner Officer (DCO), Pasand Khan Buledi, said that heavily armed militants attacked laborers'camp at about 1:30 a.m. local time in Gugdan area of Turbat, a main district in the country's southwest Balochistan province, and fled the scene.

He said the laborers were sleeping in their camp when over 50 militants, coming on motorbikes, woke them up and killed 20 of them after identifying them as residents of east Punjab and south Sindh Province.

He said that the deceased laborers were working on an under- construction bridge at Sohrab dam site, adding that 16 of them came from Punjab while four belonged to Sindh.

The bodies will be handed over to their relatives after autopsy, he said.

The injured people were shifted to a nearby hospital where their condition is stable, said the DCO.

He said that the security forces cordoned off the area following the attack and kicked off investigations.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but in the past, separatist groups, demanding for equal share from the mineral-rich province's natural resources, were found involved in such kind of attacks.

The groups believe that the central and provincial governments give more benefits to Punjab and Sindh provinces by usurping the rights of the people of Balochistan. Endi