QUETTA: Three labourers were shot dead and another was injured in the Mangochar area of Kalat district on Monday.

All the victims belonged to the Sadiqabad area of Punjab.

Levies officials said that the incident took place in Killi Khurasani area of Mangochar, the native town of Home Minister Ziaullah Langove.

The labourers were hired to dig for a tube well on the land of Pir Jan Mohammad Hasni.

“Armed men opened fire on the four labourers in the early hours of Monday morning when they were sleeping in their camp in Killi Khurasani, resulting in the death of three of them,” senior Levies officer Resaldar Major Mohammad Akbar Mengal said, adding that one of the labourers was injured.

Personnel of Levies and other law enforcement agencies rushed to the site and took the bodies and the injured to the district hospital in Kalat.

“All the three victims received multiple bullet injuries, which resulted in their instant death,” hospital officials said, adding that the injured man received one bullet in his leg.

Levies officials, quoting the injured labourer, said that armed men came to the camp site in a vehicle and after firing shots escaped in the same vehicle. “The incident seems to be a case of targeted killing,” Levies officials said. The deceased were identified as Qasim Ali, Shahnawaz and Tuda aka Sunil Kumar. They were residents of the Sadiqabad area of Rahim Yar Khan district. The bodies of all the three labourers were dispatched to their native town. The injured was identified as Raza Ali.

Home Minister Ziaullah Langove took notice of the incident and directed the officials concerned to launch an operation for the arrest of terrorists involved in the killing of innocent labourers.

He condemned the killings and termed the incident against Baloch traditions. “The elements involved in the brutality will not be spared and will be brought to justice soon,” he added.

Abdul Wahid Shahwani in Khuzdar also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2021