Victims hail from Punjab, Sindh; president, PM, others condemn attack
By our correspondents
April 12, 2015
QUETTA: Unknown armed men shot dead 20 labourers from Punjab and Sindh and injured three others in the Gagdan area of Turbat in the Kech district. Deputy Commissioner Turbat Mumtaz Ali said unidentified armed men reached the Gagdan area on Saturday night and opened indiscriminate fire at the labourers who were asleep in a camp set up at the site of an under-construction bridge on a stream, leaving 20 of them dead on the spot and injuring three others. “Twenty labourers died on the spot and three others were injured,” he said, adding that the assailants managed to escape from the scene. The rescue teams shifted the dead and injured to hospital. According to doctors, the dead received multiple bullet wounds which caused their instant death. The condition of three injured labourers was said to be critical. The district management said that 16 of the labourers who died in the firing belonged to Punjab and four victims hailed from Sindh. The law enforcement agencies rushed to the site and cordoned off the entire area to trace the suspects. Meanwhile, four levies personnel have been arrested for negligence in their duty to protect the labourers on the construction site. According to officials, the remaining three levies personnel have fled and raids are being conducted to arrest them. Meanwhile, President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other leaders in their separate statements condemned the killing of 20 labourers in Turbat. They expressed heartfelt sympathy with the bereaved families and prayed that Almighty Allah rest the departed souls in eternal peace. The president said the whole nation is united in eliminating militancy and terrorism and anti-state elements will never succeed in their hideous agendas. He directed the authorities concerned to provide the best possible medical treatment to the injured. The prime minister directed the provincial government and law enforcement agencies to take all necessary steps to bring the culprits to justice.
