Gunmen kill 6 bus passengers in Pakistan's Balochistan

Islamabad, Mar 27 (PTI) Unidentified gunmen shot and killed five people from Punjab after offloading them from a passenger bus in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, according to media reports on Thursday.

Another passenger who was injured in the attack succumbed to his injuries later.

The attack occurred in the Gwadar district of the province when armed men killed five passengers of a Karachi-bound bus in the Kalmat area overnight, Geo News reported, quoting Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Hamoodur Rehman.

Later, with the death of an injured passenger, the death toll rose to six.

The Dawn newspaper reported that the armed men killed the passengers after checking their ID cards and also took away three others. Quoting an official, it said that they belonged to the country's Punjab province.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but in the past, ethnic Baloch terrorist groups carried out such targeted attacks against the people of Punjab.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and directed relevant authorities to investigate and prosecute those responsible.

“The terrorists are the enemies of the country’s development and prosperity of Balochistan. They cannot see progress in Balochistan,” said President Asif Ali Zardari, according to the report.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti took to X to condemn the incident and said, “Offloading innocent passengers from a bus and murdering them based on their identity is a heinous and cowardly act.” He pledged that the “war against hardcore terrorists would continue and they would be brought to justice by all means”, the report said.

The attack comes amid a tense situation in the province as earlier this month, terrorists belonging to the banned separatist outfit Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) hijacked the Jaffar Express carrying 440 passengers. The hijacking resulted in the killing of 26 hostages, including 18 security personnel.

The Army eliminated all 33 terrorists the next day and rescued 354 hostages.

Since then, multiple attacks have taken place across Balochistan.

Earlier this week, unidentified armed men killed four policemen and four labourers in two separate incidents.

On March 17, five people including four children were injured in a grenade attack on the residence of a Station House Officer (SHO) in the province.

A day earlier, five people, including three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel, were killed and 30 injured after a paramilitary convoy was attacked by suspected Baloch militants on a highway in Noshki district.

Bordering Iran and Afghanistan, Balochistan is home to a long-running violent insurgency.

Baloch insurgent groups frequently carry out attacks targeting security personnel, government projects and the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in this oil and mineral-rich province. PTI GRS GRS GRS

Source: PTI