Pakistan: Gunmen Kill 23 in Balochistan After Stopping Buses on Highway

Balochistan: At least 23 people were killed in Pakistan's Balochistan on Monday, August 23, after armed men shot passengers onboard buses after checking their identities.

The incident happened in Balochistan’s Musakhel district. 

According to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Ayub Khoso an unidentified terrorist group put up blocks on the highway in the Rarashim area of the Musakhel district and offloaded 23 passengers.

"The passengers were told to get down from buses and shot dead after being identified from their national ID cards," he said.

"Most of those killed belonged to southern Punjab and some are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suggesting they were killed because of their ethnic background," Khoso added.

The senior official further asserted that the armed men had also set some 12 vehicles on fire on the highway before fleeing into the nearby mountainous terrain.

The police reached the spot upon receiving the situation and shifted the bodies to the hospital for identification and other procedures. 

Following the horrific incident, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti expressed his heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims and strongly condemned the incident of terrorism.

The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end, the Chief Minister said, adding that the Balochistan government will pursue the terrorists.

This attack comes nearly months after a similar attack occurred in Punjab.

In April, as many as nine passengers were offloaded from a bus near Noshki and shot dead after gunmen checked their ID cards.

Meanwhile, in another instance, In October last year, several unidentified gunmen fatally shot six labourers hailing from Punjab in Turbat in Balochistan’s Kech district.

According to the police, the killings were targeted. All victims belonged to different areas of southern Punjab, suggesting they had been chosen for their ethnic background.

(Inputs from PTI)