Pakistan: Militants Kill 4 Civilians, 1 Cop In Balochistan Province

According to police, roughly 20 militants stormed the Naseerabad Police Station in the dangerous province's Turbat district early Saturday morning.

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At least five persons were murdered and two more were injured in a terrorist attack on a police station in Pakistan's restive south-western Balochistan region on Wednesday, news agency PTI reported. According to police, roughly 20 militants stormed the Naseerabad Police Station in the dangerous province's Turbat district early Saturday morning. Constables Essa and Hassan sought to confront the assailants, but the former was slain and Hassan was overpowered, according to District Police Officer Muhammad Baloch. The assailant snatched the guns of the two police officers.

The other four victims were labourers who had gone to spend the night at the police station owing to fear of being attacked by militants after gunmen killed six workers in an incident on October 14 in Turbat's Satellite Town.

Following the incident, local officials instructed workers from outside the province to spend the night at police stations until the security situation improved. There has been no claim of responsibility for the incident. Baloch nationalists carry out such assaults on impoverished labourers, primarily from the nearby Punjab province, who migrate to the Balochistan province in quest of job.

The Baloch radicals claim that foreigners, particularly those from Punjab, take native employment and resources and attack them. Balochistan's interim Chief Minister Ali Mardan Khan Domki extended his condolences for the dead, calling the incident "condemnable and intolerable."

"No religion in the world allows terrorism,” he was quoted by PTI in its report. “The killing of labourers is a sad incident and the involved elements will be brought to justice," he added. 

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has a long history of deadly rebellion. Baloch militant organisations have already carried out multiple attacks in the region aimed at the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects.