Unidentified gunmen offloaded seven passengers from a bus and gunned them down in Pakistan’s Balochistan region on Tuesday.
Officials told Dawn News that a group of around 40 armed men stopped several buses and other vehicles near Rakhani, on the Barkhan-Dera Ghazi Khan Highway.
“Armed men offloaded seven passengers from a coach after checking their identity cards and killed them,” Barkhan Deputy Commissioner Waqar Khurshid Alam told
After disembarking them from the coach, the gunmen opened fire, killing them on the spot, he said.
He said the attackers managed to escape from the spot after the incident.
The bodies of the seven slain men were shifted to hospital.
The Barkhan deputy commissioner told that FC and levies personnel had reached the site and cordoned off the area.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incident so far.
BLA Factor
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is active in the region.
The group has previously claimed responsibility for several attacks in the area the past.
Balochistan has witnessed a rise in terror attacks in recent years.
Spike In Terrorism
There has been a similar spike in terror activities in Pakistan over the past several years.
In May 2024, seven barbers were shot dead in Gwadar.
In August, 23 travellers were offloaded from trucks and buses and shot in Musakhail region of the South Asian country.
Balochistan has been witnessing security forces battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence for several years.
The mineral-rich region is located in a diplomatically crucial area since it shares Pakistan’s borders with Afghanistan and Iran.
