At least 21 miners killed in Pakistan by gunmen

Gunmen have killed at least 21 people at a coal mine in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, according to local police.

The attackers raided the workers' shelter building in the mines of the "Junaid" coal company in the Duki district, in the early hours of Friday morning, where they gathered the men and then shot at them.

A hospital in Duki has recovered the bodies of 20 miners and is treating six injured, the BBC reports..

The workers were attacked with weapons such as rocket launchers and hand grenades, police said, while one survivor also reported seeing a drone in the air.

"When the attackers approached, they shouted 'we told you to stop the work here, why didn't you do it?'", he said. He emphasized that the attackers spoke in Pashto, an eastern Iranian language. "Then they started shooting."

The survivor estimates that the attack lasted about an hour and a half, during which the machine was set on fire. He also heard loud explosions, which he thinks were caused by the grenades.

Asim Shafi, the chief of police in Duki district, has confirmed that hand grenades and rocket launchers were used in the attack, which is believed to have been carried out by around 40 people, who then disappeared "during the night".

Police have confirmed that four of the victims were Afghans, while the others were from Pashto-speaking areas of Balochistan.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings so far. In the past, the separatist Baloche Liberation Army (BLA) has carried out several deadly attacks in the province.