Gunmen in Pakistan killed 20 labourers as they slept early yesterday, a government official said, in what appeared to be the latest violence by separatist rebels battling for control of resources in gas- and mineral-rich Baluchistan province.
Rebels have been fighting a low-intensity insurgency in the province for decades, demanding an end to what they see as the exploitation of their resources by people from other parts of Pakistan.
The workers killed at a construction site 9 miles from the town of Turbat were mostly from outside Baluchistan which suggested the Baluch rebels were responsible, said provincial interior minister Akbar Hussain Durrani.
Three wounded survivors said the gunmen opened fire on the sleeping men with automatic weapons, then escaped on motorcycles.
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