Death toll mounts to 19

Quetta: At least 19 labourers were killed on Friday when unidentified armed assailants launched a deadly rocket attack on their coalmines in the Duki district of Balochistan in today wee hours.

The bodies and the injured miners were transported to nearby Teaching Hospital Loralai for medical care. 

Teams of police and FC personnel have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation. 

Police earlier said that two labourers were killed in the attack. However, Medical Officer Dr Johar Sadozai confirmed that the death toll from the attack had risen to 19, with seven miners injured.

The outlaws gathered the miners at one place and opened fire at them. Police said the assailants used hand grenades and rockets in the attack.

The owner of the coal mines, District Chairman Haji Khairullah Nasir, said that there are ten coalmines located in the area where the attackers not only carried out an assault but also set the mining machinery on fire.

Two of the deceased belonged to Pishin and two others were residents of Qila Saifullah while one of them was from Kuchlak and three others came for work from Afghanistan, according to the medial officer.

Pakistan has witnessed a worrying surge in terrorist attacks in the ongoing year with fatalities in the first three quarters surpassing the numbers recorded in all of 2023.

As per the third Quarterly Report (Q3) issued by Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), the number of fatalities rose to at least 1,534 in the first three quarters of 2024 compared to 1,523 in 2023.

It further said that nearly 97% of these fatalities occurred in KP and Balochistan — the highest percentage in a decade.

However, despite the worrying numbers, the data released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) show that there has been a significant reduction in militant activity in Balochistan following a surge in August.

In September, the western province witnessed 27 attacks, leading to 22 deaths and 48 injuries as opposed to 43 attacks, 125 deaths, and 77 injuries recorded in August.