Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on Sunday that kills and martyred 11 coal miners from Pakistan’s minority Shia Hazaras in Balochistan.
The attack took place early on Sunday morning in the Mach area of Bolan district, 100-km southeast of Quetta. The miners were in a shared residential room near the coal mine where they worked, officials said.
“The throats of coal miners have been slit after their hands were tied behind their backs and (they were) blind-folded,” a security official told Reuters.
A video clip making the rounds on WhatsApp groups, apparently shot by a first responder. It showed three bodies lying outside the room and the rest inside in pools of blood.
“Have asked Frontier Constabulary to use all resources to apprehend these killers and bring them to justice,” said PM Imran Khan.
Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack that kills the coal miners in Balochistan, through its Amaq news agency.
Following the attack, members of the Hazara minority in Quetta blocked the western bypass. They set fire to tyres to protest against the killings.
Balochistan is the focus of the $60-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It is a transport and energy link planned between western China and Pakistan’s southern deepwater port of Gwadar.
Hazaras have been frequently targeted by Taliban and Islamic State militants and other militant groups in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In 2013, three bombings killed more than 200 people in Hazara neighborhoods in Quetta.
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