Gunmen Kills 20 Labourers in South West Pakistan: Officials

Gunmen have killed 20 construction workers in Pakistan's restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, shooting them at point blank range after identifying they were not local, officials said today.

Baluchistan is plagued by violence, with separatists seeking greater control over the province's rich oil, gas and mineral resources, and gunmen have previously targeted outsiders seen as settlers.

The Baluch Liberation Front (BLF), an armed group that wants the province to be "liberated" from the rest of Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the incident.

"Gunmen stormed the camp of labourers in Gokh Don area of Baluchistan late Friday night and killed 20 labourers," senior police official Tariq Khilji told AFP.

He said those killed were all from outside the province -- 16 of them from Punjab and four from Sindh province.

The incident, which occurred around 1,050 kilometres (650 miles) southwest of Quetta, was confirmed by Akbar Hussain Durrani, a senior administration official in the province.

"The labourers were working on construction of a small local bridge," he said.

Hussain said some of the labourers reported being woken from their sleep by the sound of gunshots and screams.

"They had lined them up and shot them at point blank range after identifying their identity," he said.

Hussain said paramilitary troops were guarding the labourers but fled when confronted by a large number of armed attackers.

A spokesman for BLF said the group would carry out more attacks until the province was given independence.

"We will continue our fight against Pakistani occupation until (the) liberation of Baluchistan," Goran Baluch told AFP.

BLF became known for the kidnapping of American UNHCR worker John Solecki from Quetta on February 2009. Solecki was released on "humanitarian grounds" in 2009.

Human rights groups have long accused Pakistani security forces and intelligence agencies of serious abuses in Baluchistan, Pakistan's largest but least populous province.

The security services deny the allegations and say they are battling a fierce rebellion in the region.