Page 10 - AHATA

A6 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 12 OctOber 2024
Gunmen kill 21 miners in southwest Pakistan ahead of an Asian

security summit

By ABDUL SATTAR the profits from develop-
Associated Press ment reach the local area.
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — The BLA launched multiple
Gunmen killed 21 miners attacks in August that killed
and wounded six others more than 50. They includ-
in Pakistan’s southwest, a ed 23 people, mostly from
police official said Friday, eastern Punjab province,
drawing condemnation who were fatally shot after
from authorities as a search being taken from buses,
was launched for the as- vehicles and trucks in Mu-
sailants. sakhail district in Baloch-
The latest attack in the res- istan. Authorities respond-
tive Balochistan province ed by killing 21 insurgents in
came days ahead of a the province.
major security summit be- Prime Minister Shehbaz
ing hosted in the capital. Sharif expressed his deep
The gunmen stormed the sorrow over the coal mine
accommodation at a coal killings and vowed to elimi-
mine in Duki district late nate terrorism.
Thursday night, rounded up Sarfraz Bugti, the chief min-
the men and opened fire, ister in Balochistan, said
police official Hamayun “terrorists have once again
Khan Nasir said. He said the targeted poor laborers.”
attackers also fired rockets, Injured men receive treatment at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following He said the attackers were
lobbed grenades at the Thursday attack by gunmen in Balochistan province. Associated Press cruel and had an agenda
mine and damaged ma- to destabilize Pakistan. “The
chinery before fleeing. wounded miners died later ending the protest insisted several separatist groups killing of these innocent la-
Most of the casualties were at a hospital, increasing the they would not hold funer- who want independence. borers will be avenged,” he
from Pashto-speaking ar- death toll to 21, Nasir said. als until authorities arrest They accuse the federal said in a statement.
eas of Balochistan. Three However, he said the fami- the killers, Nasir said. government in Islamabad Interior Minister Mohsin
of the dead and four of the lies of the killed miners for No group claimed immedi- of unfairly exploiting oil- and Naqvi said those who killed
wounded were Afghan. hours refused to bury them ate responsibility for the at- mineral-rich Balochistan at the laborers would not be
Angered over the vio- and staged a sit-in at the tack, but suspicion is likely the expense of locals. able to escape the grip of
lence, local shop owners site of the attack in Duki. to fall on the outlawed Foreign investors, many the law.
pulled their shutters down Under Islamic tradition, buri- Baloch Liberation Army, from China, have pumped On Monday, the BLA said
to observe a daylong strike als take place as quickly as which targets civilians and billions of dollars in invest- it carried out an attack on
against the killings. possible after death, but security forces. ment into Balochistan, but Chinese nationals outside
One of the critically the demonstrators before The province is home to the separatists say few of Pakistan’s biggest airport.q

Mexico sends 660 soldiers, National Guard to protect lime growers

suffering extortion by cartels

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- The department said the producing areas around 10 guns and two grenades. they could sell their crops.
co has sent 660 soldiers and troops were visiting pack- the towns of Apatzingan, Limes are an absolute sta- It’s not just limes; there is
militarized National Guard ing houses, escorting trucks Aguililla and Buenavista. ple of Mexican cuisine. The mounting evidence that
officers this month to the transporting the fruit and It said that in just over a Michoacan state govern- drug cartels are distorting
western state of Michoa- providing security at whole- week, the troops deployed ment had acknowledged parts of Mexico’s economy,
can to protect lime grow- sale markets in the main to Michoacan had seized the producers’ shutdowns deciding who gets to sell a
ers who complained they in August, but claimed it product and at what price
were suffering extortion de- was largely because grow- and in return they are ap-
mands by cartels. ers were unhappy with the parently demanding sellers
The Defense Department prices they were getting. pass a percentage of sales
said Thursday that since the While limes might seem to revenue back to the cartel.
start of President Claudia be an odd target for drug In July, the Femsa corpora-
Sheinbaum’s administra- cartels, they have been a tion, which operates Oxxo,
tion on Oct. 1, it has sent source of income for the Mexico’s largest chain of
300 soldiers and 360 Guard gangs for much of this cen- convenience stores, an-
officers to several lime- tury. nounced it was closing all of
growing townships. In 2013, lime growers its 191 stores and seven gas
In August, more than half of founded and led Mexico’s stations in the border city of
lime packing warehouses biggest vigilante move- Nuevo Laredo, across from
in the lowlands of Michoa- ment. Cartels at the time Laredo, Texas, because of
can closed temporarily af- had taken control of distri- gang problems.
ter growers and distributors bution, manipulating do- The company said it had
said they had received de- A worker unloads a truck-full of Mexican limes at a citrus mestic prices for crops like long had to deal with car-
mands from the Los Viagras packing plant in La Ruana, in the state of Michoacan, Mexico, avocados and limes, telling tel demands that its gas
and other cartels for a cut Nov. 6, 2023. growers when they could stations buy their fuel from
of their income. Associated Press harvest and at what price certain distributors.q