QUETTA, (Pakistan): A group of militants killed at least 10 people, including a Turkish national, at a copper and gold mining project in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Thursday (April 23), with another Turk taken hostage.
About 40 militants on motorcycles and other vehicles stormed the mining project site of Pakistani company National Resources Private Limited (NRL) in the Darigwan area of Chagai district on Wednesday.
"At least 10 people were killed in the incident, including a Turkish national, six workers, and three guards," a local administration official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
No group claimed responsibility, but local ethnic separatist groups have intensified their attacks in the region in recent years, including on mining projects.
The Turk and three guards were killed when a fuel tanker at the mine exploded during the attack, the official said.
"The militants also abducted one Turkish national during the attack," he said.
A police official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the details of the attack to AFP. He said eight people were wounded.
The company acknowledged the attack late on Wednesday, saying security forces responded "promptly and have secured the area". It did not provide details about casualties.
The dead and wounded were taken to a government hospital in nearby Dalbandin, AFP journalists saw.
One man's feet and left arm were bandaged, his clothes ripped and blackened.
Nasir Khan, a hospital official, confirmed the death toll.
"We have 10 dead bodies here," he told AFP. "Some had gunshot wounds. Others were burned."
Two people were seriously wounded, he said. One had been hit by shrapnel and the other had extensive burns.
The local official said a Turkish national and two South Africans were "safely evacuated" from the attack site.
- Separatist movement -
Balochistan is Pakistan's poorest province and largest by landmass. It lags behind the rest of the country in almost every index, including education, employment and economic development.
Baloch separatists accuse Pakistan's government of exploiting the province's natural gas and abundant mineral resources without benefiting the local population.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the province's most active armed separatist group, launched a string of coordinated attacks across the region in February that killed more than 190 people.
Separatists have killed workers in the past based on their ethnicity, targeting Punjabis and Sindhis and accusing them of being outsiders to the province.
The NRL statement said that 90 percent of its workforce consisted of local workers. - AFP
