Quetta, APR 13: Nine people from Punjab were killed near Noshki, Balochistan in the early hours of Saturday, when gunmen forced them off a bus they were travelling in and shot them, officials said. Another attack on a separate vehicle killed one person and injured four.
“About 10-12 gunmen blockaded the Quetta-Taftan Highway N-40 in the vicinity of Sultan Charhai near Noshki and abducted nine passengers from a bus,” Deputy Commissioner Habibullah Musakhel told Dawn.com.
The gunmen checked the identity cards of passengers from the Taftan-bound bus and kidnapped them, he added. They were subsequently shot dead.
The bodies of the abducted passengers were found under a bridge nearby after an hour and a half, Musakhel said. It’s unclear whether their belongings were taken.
The nine victims were from Punjab, Noshki Station House Officer Asad Mengal told Dawn.com.
The victims — all of whom were men — were from Wazirabad, Mandi Bahauddin, and Gujranwala, according to identity documents seen by Dawn.com.
In a separate attack on the same highway, a car that tried to force its way through the gunmen’s cordon was fired upon, killing one passenger and injuring four, the SHO said.
When the car did not stop, the gunmen shot at the vehicle, bursting its tires. The casualties occurred because the vehicle overturned, SHO Mengal said. One of the car’s passengers was a brother of provincial assembly member Ghulam Dastgir Badini, the SHO added.
Dawn.com’s correspondent was able to confirm that both attacks were carried out at the same blockade.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack and sought a report into the incident, according to Radio Pakistan.
He expressed his condolences to the victims’ families, saying: “We stand with the bereaved families in this hour of grief.”
The premier said the perpetrators of this incident of terrorism and their facilitators will be punished.
He also reaffirmed his commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the root.
Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti expressed deep grief and sorrow over the sad incident, Radio Pakistan reported. He said terrorists would be dealt with iron hands and vowed that terrorists would not succeed in their nefarious designs.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
