QUETTA: Six labourers, two brothers among them, were gunned down and another one was injured in a remote area of Balochistan’s Kharan district close to the Pakistan-Iran border late on Thursday night.

Official sources said on Friday that the labourers who were working on a tower being set up by a private mobile phone company in the area were sleeping in their camp when unidentified people opened fire on them with automatic weapons.

They said the assailants who came on motorcycles managed to escape after committing the crime.

Soon after receiving information about the incident security personnel rushed to the area and shifted the bodies to the district hospital in Kharan. The injured was taken to the Bolan Medical College hospital in Quetta. He is said to be in a critical condition.

An official told Dawn that security personnel found six bodies and one injured man inside the camp. He said all the six men received multiple bullet wounds and they died on the spot. He said all the victims hailed from Okara district of Punjab.

Sources said the incident took place in the Lejah area, some 90km from Kharan town. They claimed that the mobile company had not made security arrangements for the labourers.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The bodies were later shifted to Quetta from where they would be sent to the victim’s native towns.

The deceased were identified as Fakharuddin, Javed Ali, Amanat Ali, Muhammad Mazhar, Waqis and Shahzad aka Shadi. The injured was identified as Faryal Bhatti.

The official sources said the security personnel launched a search operation in the area after the incident. However, no arrest was reported.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdu Quddus Bizenjo condemned the killing of labourers and termed it an inhuman act. He said elements involved in the incident would soon be brought to justice.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2018