Police said gunmen stormed into a house near southwestern Pakistan’s Gwadar city and shot workers in an apparent ethnic attack. The victims were originally from Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed at least seven workers in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, police said on Thursday.

According to police official Mohsin Ali, gunmen stormed into a house some 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of the port city of Gwadar, and shot the workers while they were asleep.

The coastal town of Gwadar is the site of several Beijing-backed projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor investment, which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative.