PAKISTAN: 8 Killed as Gunmen Attack Fuel Station

 

ISLAMABAD (NNN-Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and a dozen others injured when gunmen opened fire at a petrol station in Pakistan's southwest province of Balochistan on Friday afternoon, local media reported.

Dunya TV reported that the incident happened at about 2:20 p.m. local time when an unknown number of gunmen targeted the fuel station as soon as a passenger van carrying 16 people stopped at the station for refueling in Khuzdar area, a main town located in the eastern part of the province.

Eyewitnesses said that the unknown gunmen were driving a car when they targeted the fuel station.

District Police Officer of Khuzdar said that following the firing incident, fire engulfed the whole petrol station and the passenger van. He said that a rickshaw and two motorbikes were also destroyed in the incident.

All the dead people were the van passengers; however, the injured include fuel station staff, passersby and passengers.

The injured have been shifted to nearby hospital where nine of them were in critical condition as they got serious burnt injuries all over their bodies.

The attackers fled from the scene after the incident.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Police and paramilitary troops cordoned off the area following the attack and a search operation for the escaped gunmen has been kicked off. -- NNN-XINHUA