GUNMEN have killed 20 miners and wounded seven in south-west Pakistan, police said today.

The latest violence in restive Balochistan province took place days before a major security summit opens in the national capital Islamabad.

The gunmen stormed the accommodation at a coalmine in Duki district on Thursday night, rounded up the men and opened fire, police official Hamayun Khan Nasir said. 

He added that the attackers had also fired rockets and lobbed grenades at the mine and damaged machinery before fleeing.

Most of the casualties were from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan, but three of the dead and four of the wounded were Afghan. 

Local shopkeepers pulled their shutters down and went on strike in protest at the killings.

No group claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which targets civilians and security forces.

The group launched multiple attacks in August that claimed more than 50 lives. 

Among the dead were 23 people, mostly from eastern Punjab province, who were fatally shot after being taken from buses, vehicles and lorries in the Musakhail district of Balochistan. Authorities responded by killing 21 insurgents in the province.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his deep sorrow over the coalmine killings and vowed to eliminate terrorism.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said that “terrorists have once again targeted poor labourers,” adding that the attackers were cruel and had an agenda to destabilise Pakistan. “The killing of these innocent labourers will be avenged,” he vowed.

The province is home to several separatist groups seeking independence. They accuse the federal government of unfairly exploiting oil and mineral-rich Balochistan at the expense of the locals.

On Monday, the Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for an attack that killed two Chinese nationals outside Pakistan’s biggest airport.