Four orchard workers were killed and three others injured in what local and rescue sources described as a drone strike in the Khadkucha area of Mastung district on Friday.
According to rescue officials, the incident occurred in the Gaith area of Khadkucha, where labourers were working in an orchard when an aerial strike reportedly hit the site. Four workers were killed at the scene, while three others sustained injuries.
Rescue personnel transferred the dead and injured to Shaheed Nawab Ghaus Bakhsh Raisani Memorial Hospital in Mastung, where the wounded were receiving treatment.
The injured were identified by rescue sources as Ali Raza Mengal of Khadkucha, Naseebullah Abro of Haji Shahr, Kachhi, and Khalid Hussain of Haji Shahr, Kachhi. Those killed were identified as Gul Khan Mughairi, Imran, Ubaidullah, and Jehanzaib Abro, all reportedly associated with Haji Shahr in Kachhi district. Rescue sources said all of the casualties were working as labourers in the orchard at the time of the incident.
While local residents and some of the injured described the incident as a drone strike, police officials said the exact nature of the explosion had not yet been determined. Authorities confirmed the deaths and injuries but stated that an investigation was underway to establish the cause of the blast.
The reported strike also follows other incidents in which civilians were reportedly killed during security operations or aerial attacks in Balochistan. On 12 August, reports emerged from Surab’s Goandhan area alleging that an aerial bombardment had killed dozens of civilians, including women and children. Local residents, rights groups and political organisations disputed the official account of the incident, while Pakistani authorities maintained that casualties occurred following the detonation of an explosives-laden vehicle and a subsequent security operation.
The Mastung incident also comes weeks after reports from Khuzdar district alleging that four civilians were killed in a reported drone strike on a house in the Moola Manjalo area. Human rights organisations and local groups described the victims as civilians, while official confirmation regarding the circumstances of that incident was not publicly available.
No official statement had been issued by the Pakistan military’s media wing or the district administration regarding the reported drone strike on Friday at the time of publication.