ISLAMABAD, Pakistan– At least nine passengers were abducted and killed by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, government officials confirmed on Friday.
The attack occurred near Zhob, a town in northern Balochistan, on Thursday evening. Armed assailants stopped passenger buses, ordered travelers off, checked their identity cards, and selectively shot nine individuals dead. According to provincial government spokesperson Shahid Rind, the victims were taken some distance from the buses before being executed. Their bodies have since been recovered.
Rind said a search operation is underway to recover any additional abducted individuals and locate the attackers.
Unconfirmed local reports suggested the victims may have been military intelligence personnel traveling from Quetta to Lahore. However, no group has claimed responsibility for the killings so far.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the incident, calling it a “heinous act of terrorism.” In a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, he said, “We will deal with terrorists with full force. The blood of innocent people will be avenged. With resolve, unity, and strength, we will confront the scourge of terrorism and uproot it completely.”
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti also issued a strong condemnation, pledging justice and vowing to “crush every single terror plan with full force, unwavering resolve, and complete unity.”
In response to the killings, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) urged political action. “HRCP is deeply grieved by the killing of at least nine passengers who were ordered to disembark from Punjab-bound coaches and were subsequently shot near the border between districts Loralai and Zhob,” the group said in a statement. “HRCP demands that the federal and provincial governments move urgently to seek a fair political solution to the longstanding issues in Balochistan.”
The incident adds to ongoing instability in the region. Last month, six coaches of the Jaffar Express derailed following a blast on the railway tracks near Jacobabad in Sindh province. The train was traveling from Quetta to Peshawar. The Baloch Republican Guards, a separatist group, claimed responsibility, as well as for attacks on cargo linked to the Reko Diq mining project in Chagai.
The group has warned of future attacks, stating, “Such attacks will continue until the independence of Balochistan.”
The broader Baloch separatist movement continues to push for independence from Pakistan. Recently, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) released a statement urging the international community to recognize Pakistan as a “terrorist entity,” accusing the state of backstabbing, failed diplomacy, and fostering extremism. (Source: IANS)
