Daesh Claims Killing 11 Shia Coal Miners in Pakistan
Gunmen opened fire on a group of minority Shia Hazara coal miners after abducting them, a Pakistani official said Sunday.
Daesh later claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its website. The terrorist group has repeatedly targeted Pakistan’s minority Shias in recent years.
Moazzam Ali Jatoi, an official with the Levies Force, which serves as police and paramilitary in the area, said the attackers identified the miners as being from the Shia Hazara community and took them to up into nearby mountains for execution, leaving others unharmed. He said six of the miners died at the scene, and five who were critically wounded died on the way to a hospital.
Police video of the bodies revealed the miners were blindfolded and had their hands tied behind their backs before being shot. The attack took place near the Machh coal field, about 48 kilometers (30 miles) east of the provincial capital Quetta, Yahoo News reported.
News of the killings quickly spread among the Hazara community and members took to the streets in Quetta and surrounding areas to protest, blocking highways with burning tires and tree trunks. Officials closed the affected roads to traffic.
The violence was largely condemned across the country, with Prime Minister Imran Khan saying the perpetrators would be taken to task and the affected families would be cared for.
Shia cleric Nasir Abbas said protests over the incident would be organized nationwide. Political and religious leaders from different segments of the population also expressed their grief and sorrow over the killings.
Pakistan’s Hazara community has been targeted many times in recent years by terrorist groups, including the Islamic State group. Daesh has also declared war on minority Shias in neighboring Afghanistan, and has claimed a number of vicious attacks since emerging there in 2014.
