10 labourers shot dead by terrorists in Gwadar

The attack on the laborers took place some 20 kilometers from the emerging port city of Gwadar in Balochistan that forms the southern hub of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

"All the labourers were shot at close range," said senior levies official Muhammad Zareef, adding that the shooters were traveling on a motorcycle. The levies are a paramilitary force that oversees security in Baluchistan where police jurisdiction is limited to major urban centers.

Security officials have said previously that militants trying to disrupt construction on the "economic corridor" have killed 44 workers since 2014, all of whom were Pakistani.

The men killed and wounded on Saturday had been working for the provincial government at two separate construction sites on three kilometers apart along the same road. Two laborers wounded in the shootings were taken to hospital where one of them died from his injuries, Zareef said.

The roads the laborers were working on are not specific CPEC-funded projects, but they are part of a network of connecting roads that are part of the corridor.

No group has admitted responsibility for the shootings but past attacks in the region have been carried out by separatists who view construction projects as a means to take over their land.

The shootings come a day after a suicide bomber targeting a Pakistani senator killed 26 people and injured 40, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti said. –Reuters