Ten killed near China “Belt and Road” projects in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan, May 13: Ten labourers were killed in southwestern Pakistan today while working on link roads to connect outlying towns to the country’s 57-billion dollars Chinese “Belt and Road” initiative, security officials confirmed.
The attack on the Pakistani labourers took place some 20 kilometres from the emerging port city of Gwadar in Baluchistan province that forms the southern hub of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
“All the labourers were shot at close range,” said senior levies official Muhammad Zareef, adding that the shooters were travelling on a motorcycle.
The levies are a paramilitary force that oversees security in Baluchistan where police jurisdiction is limited to major urban centres.
Gwadar’s deep-water port is the exit point for a planned route from China’s far-western Xinjiang region to the Arabian Sea.
(Reuters)