At least 23 people have been killed in Balochistan’s Musakhail district after armed men offloaded passengers from trucks and buses early Monday morning and shot at them after checking their identities, an official said.
According to Musakhail Assistant Commissioner Najeeb Kakar, armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway in the Rarasham area of the district and offloaded passengers from several buses.
The perpetrators stopped buses, vans and trucks one after the other on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan, AC Kakar told AFP.
“The numbers of the militants were between 30 to 40. They stopped 22 vehicles,” he said.
“Vehicles travelling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot,” Kakar added.
“The dead are reportedly from Punjab,” the AC said.
He added that the armed men also set fire to 10 vehicles. The police and Levies officials reached the spot and began shifting the bodies to the hospital, Kakar said.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active militant group in the province, claimed responsibility for the attack — one of the worst shootings in the region in the past several years.
In remarks made to AFP, the AC said three of the victims were from Balochistan and the rest from Punjab.
This is the second attack of such nature this year. In April, nine passengers were offloaded from a bus near Balochistan’s Noshki city and shot dead after gunmen checked their ID cards.
There were at least 170 militant attacks killing 151 civilians and 114 security personnel in Balochistan last year, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
Similar attacks have taken place over the past few years.
In October last year, 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.
In 2019, gunmen stopped a bus near Ormara near Gwadar district, and shot dead 14 people, including personnel of the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guards, after checking their CNICs.
A similar incident occurred in 2015 when gunmen killed 20 construction workers and injured three others in a pre-dawn attack on a labourers’ camp near Turbat. The victims belonged to Sindh and Punjab.
Condemnations
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the terrorist attack, Radio Pakistan reported.
Expressing grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in the despicable incident, they prayed for the departed souls and condoled with the bereaved families.
President Zardari said the brutal killing of innocent people was the killing of the entire humanity and called for the culprits to be brought to justice.
PM Shehbaz directed the local administration to fully cooperate with the bereaved families and provide medical aid to the injured. He also directed the law enforcement agencies to immediately investigate the incident.
“The terrorists responsible for this incident will be severely punished,” the premier vowed, adding that any kind of terrorism was not acceptable in the country.
Both the president and the prime minister expressed Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to eradicate the menace of terrorism.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti strongly condemned the incident of terrorism.
He expressed heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the families of those who died in the cowardly act of terrorists, according to a statement issued from his office.
The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end, he said, adding that the Balochistan government will pursue the terrorists.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar strongly condemned the brutality of the terrorists.
“The terrorists showed brutality by targeting innocent passengers near Musakhail,” he was quoted as saying in a statement on X posted by PML-N.
“The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end,” he said.
Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori termed the incident worrying, saying: “No matter how much this incident is condemned, it is not enough.
“Killing passengers by offloading them from the bus is the worst kind of brutality,” he said in a statement on X.
“The elements involved in this abominable act will reach their end,” he said. “With the support of the people, the security forces will eliminate these elements soon.”
Speaking to Geo News, Punjab government spokesperson Azma Bukhari said she was angry at this incident.
