Seven laborers were shot dead in southwestern Pakistan, police said on Sunday, in a region where ethnic violence is being waged by militants. The laborers, who had migrated to Balochistan province from Punjab province for work, were attacked at their home in Panjgur district during the night.
"Seven laborers were killed and one injured," said Moazzam Jah Ansari, head of Balochistan police based in the provincial capital Quetta. Balochistan is Pakistan's poorest province, despite an abundance of untapped natural resources, where separatist groups have waged attacks on security forces as well as Pakistanis from neighboring provinces.
Punjabis are the largest of the six main ethnic groups in Pakistan and are perceived to dominate business, government, and the ranks of the military. In August, the Baloch Liberation Army claimed a coordinated attack that killed at least 39 people in one of the worst shootings in the region. During the overnight assault, militants stopped cars on a highway and killed those who were from neighboring provinces.
In April, 11 Punjabi laborers were killed when they were abducted from a bus in the city of Naushki, and six Punjabis working as barbers were shot in May. There has been a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan's border regions since the Taliban government returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.
