Seven workers killed in terrorist attack in Gwadar port in Balochistan

Karachi: At least seven workers were killed in a terrorist attack by unknown gunmen on Thursday in Pakistan's port city of Gwadar in the restive Balochistan province.

According to Gwadar Police Station Station House Officer (SHO) Mohsin Ali, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a residential quarter near the Gwadar Fish Harbour in the Surbandar area, leaving seven dead and one injured, Geo News reported.

The police official said that the dead and injured individuals used to work in a barbershop in the area and belonged to district Khanewal in Punjab.

The dead bodies and the injured individual have all been shifted to the Gwadar Hospital, the police said.

However, there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the killing of the workers in Gwadar.

Bugti also sought a report on the matter, maintaining that “all kinds of force will be used to arrest the terrorists and their facilitators”.

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Zia Ullah Langau has ordered an investigation into the killing of the seven deceased, terming it “open terrorism”.

The minister said the killing of workers is a cowardly move, terrorists will be dealt with strictly.

This incident comes at least three weeks after unidentified assailants gunned down 11 people in separate terror incidents in the Nushki district of Balochistan.

Nine of the deceased, who belonged to Punjab, were travelling in a bus on the National Highway from Quetta to Taftan when they were stopped by the militants, pulled out of the bus and abducted.

Similarly, on March 20, security forces acted swiftly and foiled a fierce attack after a group of gunmen stormed the Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) colony.