The incident took place in Gobdan area of the Turbat district, one of the most volatile parts of Balochistan, a region where nationalist and separatist Baloch groups have been fighting against the state for over a decade for maximum autonomy.
Imran Qureshi, a senior police officer, said that militants opened fire indiscriminately at the labourers while they were sleeping. The injured labourers were rushed to district headquarters hospital for medical treatment. Another police official, Akbar Hussain Durran, however, told media that the labourers were lined up and shot at point blank range after identifying themselves.
Pasand Khan Buledi, commissioner of Balochistan's Makran division, said that eight paramilitary troops guarding the labourers fled when confronted by such a large number of armed attackers.
Police told local media that the attack appears to have been an act of targeted killing. None of the dead were from Balochistan. "Among the dead, 16 were from Pakistan's Punjab province and four from Sindh," Buledi said. "After gunning down the labourers, the attackers fled on motorcycles," he added. A separatist group, Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), took responsibility for the attack.
The group's spokesperson told media that the target was the Pakistani army and those working for its construction projects in the province.
Balochistan's home minister Sarfaraz Bugti said that paramilitary Frontier Corps troops were searching in the nearby mountains for the attackers.
"We will chase them down and bring them to justice," Bugti said. "We need help in this war against terrorists. Alone, we cannot fight."
Instances of labourer killings have repeatedly taken place in Balochistan over the years. Last year in October, eight labourers were kidnapped from a poultry farm in Sakran area near the industrial town of Hub.
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