PANJGUR: At least five people were killed on Tuesday after unknown gunmen opened fire at the site of a dam in Panjgur — a district in Balochistan, said provincial government spokesperson Shahid Rind.
Those killed in the attack were deployed for the maintenance of the dam in the Paroom tehsil.
The gun attack has also left two people injured, said the spokesperson. Meanwhile, Levies officials have attributed the shooting incident to armed men on motorcycles.
The attack comes almost a month after unknown assailants shot and killed seven labourers — hailing from different areas in Punjab — in the district.
The southwestern province, the country's largest by area, has faced the brunt of terrorist attacks along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the wake of the rise in terror incidents in recent months with the two provinces accounting for 97% of the total 722 fatalities in the first three quarters of the ongoing year, as per a report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).
Earlier this month, 20 colliers were killed in a rocket attack on coalmines in Balochsitan's Duki district prompting more than 40,000 labourers to return to their native areas.
Providing details on the latest incident, the district administration said that the bodies of the victims have been shifted to the Panjgur Teaching Hospital, while further investigation was underway.
Condemning the incident, President Asif Ali Zardari expressed regret over the loss of precious lives in the terrorist attack.
The president said terrorists were enemies of the country’s development and prosperity of the province.
The terrorists do not want to see Balochistan develop, he remarked while praying for the speedy recovery of the injured.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the fatal attack while terming the perpetrators enemy of the state.
Stressing that such evil had no place in the country, the premier ordered to identify and punish those involved in the attack.
Reacting to the terrorist attack, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti termed it "unforgivable".
Referring to the terrorists as followers of anti-national elements, the chief minister vowed to bring those responsible for the cowardly attack to justice.
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