{"id":107382,"date":"2015-04-11T15:05:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-11T15:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=107382"},"modified":"2015-04-11T15:05:17","modified_gmt":"2015-04-11T15:05:17","slug":"pakistan-dam-builders-shot-dead-in-balochistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=107382","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan dam builders shot dead in Balochistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least 20 workers accused of working on an army-backed dam construction site in the south-western Pakistani province of Balochistan have been shot dead by a large group of gunmen, officials say.<\/p>\n

Police say that the gunmen overpowered eight security guards, and shot the labourers on Friday night.<\/p>\n

A separatist group said it was responsible for the attack.<\/p>\n

Taliban militants, Baloch separatists and other groups fight in the Balochistan region, which borders Iran.<\/p>\n

The separatist Balochistan Liberation Front said it carried out the attack. A spokesperson told the BBC that the target was the Pakistani army and those working for its construction projects in the province.<\/p>\n

Police told Pakistani media that the attack appears to have been an act of targeted killing – all the dead were from outside Balochistan. The attackers fled on motorcycles. At least three labourers were wounded.<\/p>\n

\"Pakistan
The security forces maintain a heavy presence in parts of Balochistan<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bugti
A low-level insurgency has been fought in Balochistan for much of the last decade<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The attack took place near the south-western town of Turbat, police say, which is considered to be one of the restive areas of Balochistan. It is also the home town of the chief minister.<\/p>\n

Senior Balochistan official Akbar Hussain Durran told the AFP news agency that the labourers were lined up and shot at point blank range after identifying themselves.<\/p>\n

He said that paramilitary troops guarding the labourers fled when confronted by such a large number of armed attackers.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani security forces are often targeted by separatists who accuse them of persecuting Baloch nationalists. Rights groups have also accused government forces of arbitrary killings, torture and enforced disappearances.<\/p>\n

The army argues that it is fighting to keep Pakistan together.<\/p>\n

Both the military and the insurgents – who want a greater share of revenue from the province’s substantial gas and mineral resources as well as more autonomy – deny human right abuses.<\/p>\n

Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said that paramilitary Frontier Corps troops were searching in the nearby mountains for the attackers.<\/p>\n

“We will chase them down and bring them to justice,” Mr Bugti said. “We need help in this war against terrorists. Alone, we cannot fight.”<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least 20 workers accused of working on an army-backed dam construction site in the south-western Pakistani province of Balochistan have been shot dead by a large group of gunmen, officials say. Police say that the gunmen overpowered eight security guards, and shot the labourers on Friday night. A separatist group said it was responsible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":107384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-107382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-papa-owusu-ankomah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/107384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}