The police announced that gunmen killed seven laborers near the Gwadar Port in southwestern Pakistan on Thursday, May 9. The port is operated by Chinese companies and is a core part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), under the Belt and Road Initiative.
According to Reuters, Pakistani officer Mohsin Ali stated that the gunmen stormed a house about 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of the port city and shot the sleeping laborers.
The port city is located in the troubled province of Balochistan in the southwest, bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Balochistan has experienced decades of insurgency led by groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), demanding a fair share of the province’s abundant natural resources. The province is rich in mineral resources and hydrocarbons, but locals complain about being marginalized and their resources being exploited.
In recent years, separatist armed groups have also targeted Chinese citizens working on the CPEC and other projects in Pakistan, resulting in multiple fatalities.
Gwadar Port is situated near the crucial oil shipping route of the Strait of Hormuz in the Arabian Sea and is Pakistan’s only deep-water port.
Chinese companies have constructed and directly operate the port, which is a key part of the CPEC bilateral cooperation and an extension of Beijing’s global infrastructure initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative.
On March 26, a suicide car bombing in northwestern Pakistan claimed the lives of at least five Chinese citizens and their local driver. This marked the third major attack targeting Chinese projects in Pakistan within a week.
Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province mentioned that Chinese engineers were traveling from Islamabad to their camp in the Upper Kohistan area of Upper Kohistan in the province when the incident occurred.
Dasu is the site of a large dam and has been attacked in the past. In 2021, a bus explosion resulted in 13 deaths, including 9 Chinese citizens.
The previous week, an attack near the Gwadar Port Complex led to the deaths of 8 armed militants.
Last month, Baloch insurgents intercepted a bus and shot 9 laborers from Punjab province at close range. Sahiwal Coal Power Plant in Punjab is the first and largest completed project under the CPEC initiative.
Last August, Baloch insurgents ambushed a convoy of 23 Chinese engineers in Gwadar with a roadside bomb and opened fire, but no foreigners were injured. BLA claimed responsibility for the attack, as reported by Voice of America.