At least 10 people were killed in an attack on a mining project in Balochistan’s Chagai district on Wednesday, officials said, while reports indicated that a foreign national was also abducted.
Around 40 fighters on motorcycles and other vehicles stormed the mining project site of Pakistani company National Resources Private Limited (NRL) in the Darigwan area.
“The attack left ten people dead, including seven workers and three security personnel,” a local administration official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
“There are unconfirmed reports that militants also took some employees hostage,” he added.
Police earlier said three Frontier Corps personnel were killed and five others were wounded, without providing further details.
Sources said a foreign national and two local security guards were among those killed. The bodies were transferred to Prince Fahad Hospital in Dalbandin, they added.
Sources also said the attackers abducted a foreign officer associated with the company and took him to an undisclosed location, identifying him as a Turkish national.
A local journalist, citing sources, said machinery at the site was set on fire during the attack.
NRL acknowledged the attack late on Wednesday in a holding statement, saying its Darigwan site was attacked at about 1745 local time by “unidentified miscreants”. The company said security forces, including the Frontier Corps, responded and secured the area, adding that a clearance and sweep operation was under way.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. Baloch nationalist armed groups have intensified attacks in the region in recent years, including on mining projects.