Seven barbershop workers were killed and one was injured on Thursday in Surbandar, Gwadar when unknown gunmen entered their residential quarters and opened fire on them while they were sleeping, police officials said.
Speaking to Dawn.com, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gwadar Zohaib Mohsin said the incident took place at approximately 3am, adding that the victims worked at a barber shop in Surbandar, which is some 25 kilometres from Gwadar.
According to a list of the casualties shared with Dawn.com by the SSP, the victims hailed from Punjab’s Khanewal and Lodhran districts, while the injured belongs to Mian Channu, Khanewal.
Following the incident, the police shifted the injured person and bodies of the deceased to Gwadar Hospital, SSP Mohsin said. He added that the area was cordoned off by law enforcement as action had begun to find the miscreants.
According to Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Hamoodur Rehman, the bodies have been shifted to their native areas via four ambulances. The injured has also been shifted to Karachi after medical aid was administered to him, he added.
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti condemned the killing of the workers in Gwadar, calling it “open terrorism”.
He expressed his condolences to their families and said that their families would not be abandoned, vowing to provide all possible support to the families.
“We will chase after terrorists and their facilitators,” Bugti said, adding that there is no soft corner or place for them in Pakistan.
“Whatever force is needed against the terrorists will be used,” the chief minister said. He stressed that the writ of the state would be enforced in any case.
“Every single drop of the blood of Pakistanis will be accounted for,” he said.
