Authorities in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province are blaming the predawn killing Thursday of at least seven barbers from Punjab province on suspected Baluch insurgents.
The incident occurred in the coastal city of Gwadar, where a Chinese company has built and operates a deep-water port on the Arabian Sea. No group immediately claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack.
Outlawed Baluch insurgent groups, including the Baluch Liberation Army, or BLA, have claimed responsibility for targeting Punjabi and settlers from other parts of Pakistan in Baluchistan in the past, claiming they were affiliated with Pakistani security forces.
Gwadar police told reporters the victims, who also included one who was injured, were sleeping when assailants stormed their residential compound and sprayed them with bullets before escaping.
The BLA, along with attacking security forces and demanding the withdrawal of Chinese investments from the region, has also targeted Chinese nationals working on China-funded projects in the province.
Sarfaraz Bugti, the provincial chief minister, condemned the killing of the barbers and vowed to bring perpetrators to justice.
He wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the “so-called Baluch terrorists have started targeting innocent workers after suffering sustained losses” inflicted on them by Pakistani security forces.
Pakistan’s military has regularly conducted counterinsurgency operations in Baluchistan and claims to have largely suppressed the insurgency. Critics question those claims, citing a recent surge in attacks.
Last month, insurgents in Baluchistan’s Noshki district blocked the highway linking Pakistan to Iran and kidnapped about a dozen bus passengers from Punjab before killing them. The BLA claimed responsibility for that attack.
In March, heavily armed BLA fighters stormed a key government complex in Gwadar, leaving several Pakistani security personnel and eight assailants dead.
