QUETTA - Three labourers belonging to Punjab province were shot dead in Gwadar port city of Balochistan province, some 1050 kilometers away from here, Levies officials said on Thursday.
Unidentified gunmen stormed a crushing plant in Gwadar Town on Wednesday and took captive three labourers and a contractor, officials said, adding they took them 15 kilometres away to Suntsar area and killed three of them. Officials believed the contractor, Haji Sher Khan, a resident of South Waziristan, was still in the captivity of his captors.
Assistant Commissioner Munir Ahmed Mosiani confirmed the incident, and said the attackers were eight in numbers and came on four motorcycles at around 5:00 pm. According to him, the labourers were killed Thursday morning.
The bodies were taken to district headquarters hospital, where the victims were identified as Bilal, Naseem and Muhammad Liaquat of Muzafargarh area of Punjab province.
According to witnesses, the kidnappers, before escaping to unspecified location, had torched the crushing plant and other equipment. The area was cordoned off by a Levies team after the incident.
Assistant Commissioner Mosiani said the crushing plant was being operated for the past 11 years in Gwadar district, where majority of labouerers were local people.
There was no immediate claim about the responsibility for the incident. Investigations are in an advanced stage.
In Panjgur district, unidentified armed men killed two religious scholars near Iran border. Police said Hafiz Abdul Tahir and Hafiz Abdul Zahir were on their way to Panjgour when the attackers opened fire on them. They both sustained critical gunshot wounds and died instantly. The assailants, however, managed to flee from the crime scene.
Police and other law enforcement agencies rushed and cordoned off the area. The bodies were shifted to a nearby state-run hospital for medico-legal formalities. Police said the father of the two victims also belonged to a religious party. A case has been registered and investigation is underway.
Separately, an unidentified person killed a man and injured his son in Musa Colony of Quetta. Ghulam Haider along with his son Muhammad Zafar was getting into his car when the gunmen opened fire at them.
Haider was killed on the spot while his son received multiple gunshot wounds.
Police rushed and moved the dead and the injured to Civil Hospital Quetta.