Islamabad: Unidentified gunmen killed at least seven passengers of a bus on Wednesday after checking their identity cards in Pakistan’s troubled Balochistan
province, officials said.
The gunmen targeted the passenger bus in the Barkhan area of the province when it was moving from the provincial capital, Quetta, to Punjab province. Police said that the assailants stopped the bus on a national highway by setting up a blockade. The attackers boarded the bus, checked the passengers’ identity cards, and forcibly took seven individuals to a nearby mountain. Shortly after, gunshots were heard.
Barkhan Deputy Commissioner Waqar Khurshid Alam confirmed the incident and the death toll. “All seven who were travelling in the coach belonged to Punjab, and were on their way to Lahore,” he said.
Quoting one passenger, Geo News reported that the assailants took his brother away after checking his identity card. The gunmen numbered between 10 and 12, he said, adding that all were armed with
Kalashnikovs. Balochistan CM Sarfraz Bugti strongly condemned the brutal killings and vowed that the culprits would be brought to justice.