Pakistan: Gunmen Attack Buses In Balochistan, Execute Passengers In What Authorities Call ‘Ethnic Killings’

Gunmen in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province attacked two passenger buses and carried out what officials described as targeted ‘ethnic killing, authorities confirmed to AP on Friday.

Gunmen Attack Buses Traveling From Balochistan to Punjab

The buses were traveling from Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, to Punjab province when they were stopped in the Zhob and Loralai districts. Armed men boarded the vehicles, forced several passengers off, and shot them dead, according to official reports.

“They dragged out 10 passengers – seven from one coach and three from the other – and took them away. I don’t know what they did to them, but I heard gunfire as we were leaving,” a survivor from one of the buses told Pakistani daily Dawn.

Government official Naveed Alam later told reporters that the victims’ bodies, bearing bullet wounds, were recovered from the mountains.

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Punjabis Targeted in ‘Ethnic Attack; in Balochistan

The attackers had blocked the road in the Sur-Dakai area near the N-70 highway before stopping the two passenger coaches. After boarding the buses, they checked passengers’ identity cards and selected ten individuals with Punjab addresses, ordering them to disembark.

Nine of those selected were subsequently abducted, according to Dawn reports.

Ashfaq Chaudhry, an administrator in Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan district, told AP that the assaults appeared to be ethnically motivated, specifically targeting Punjabis.

No Claim of Responsibility on Balochistan Attack Yet

No group has claimed responsibility for the  Balochistan  targetted bus attacks yet. However, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari while strongly condemned the attack blamed the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) for the assault.

Zardari called the attack ‘brutal killing of passengers’ and accused the group of seeking to “spread chaos and instability in the country.”

The BLA is the most powerful insurgent group in Pakistan fighting the state in the largest and mineral-rich region of Balochistan. It shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran complicating the secuirity situation int the region.

BLA demands independence from Pakistan and is waging an armed struggle against the country. Over the years the group has  frequently targeted Pakistan military installations as well as civilians from Punjab who travel to Balochistan for business or employment.

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