QUETTA: Some armed men gunned down three coal miners working in the Marwar coalfield area on Monday night, some 70 kilometres from Quetta, security officials said on Tuesday.

The victims were identified as Hidayat-ur-Rehman, Gul Hakim and Abdul Wakeel, who were working for two private coal companies — the National Coal Company and Dinar Coalmines.

The gunmen entered the area in the night and opened indiscriminate fire, killing the three coal miners on the spot.

“Three young coal miners were killed on the spot as they suffered multiple bullet injuries,” Gul Muhammad, a senior police officer of Hanna police station, told Dawn. Members of security forces reached the site after getting information about the incident and took bodies to hospital.

“We received three bullet-riddled bodies in the hospital,” Dr Wasim Baig, a spokesman for the Civil Hospital, said.

The attackers escaped after killing the miners and members of the security forces deployed at the nearby check-post got the information late because there was no mobile phone service in the hilly area.

Two of the three victims belonged to the Shangla area of Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while the third victim was a resident of Quetta.

“It seems to be an incident of targeted killing of mine workers,” a police officer said, requesting anonymity.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2021