Unknown militants in Pakistan’s Balochistan province killed 11 people, including nine bus passengers, in two separate incidents on Friday. In the first attack, armed men halted a bus in Noshki district and abducted nine passengers. “The bodies of these nine men were later found with bullet wounds in the nearby mountainous areas near a bridge,” news agency PTI reported an official as saying. “The bus was going from Quetta to Taftan when armed men stopped it and after identifying passengers took the nine men to the mountainous areas,” the official added.
In another incident, a car was fired upon on the same highway, resulting in two deaths and two injuries. Balochistan’s Chief Minister, Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, vowed to capture the terrorists responsible for the Noshki highway attack and asserted that they would not escape justice.
Bugti that the terrorists involved in the attacks would be chased, adding that their aim was to sabotage the peace of Balochistan.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the incident, saying that the government stands with the families of the deceased at this time. “There is no room for such a tragic incident…,” he added.
No banned outfit has claimed responsibility for the killings but in recent weeks this year there has been a surge in terror attacks by banned outfits and terrorists in the province in which security forces and installations have also been brazenly targeted.
The banned Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed to have carried out three major terror strikes in the province in recent weeks in Mach town, Gwadar port and a naval base in Turbat in which security forces killed some 17 militants.
(With inputs from PTI)
