QUETTA: Miscreants killed seven “Punjabi passengers” after offloading them from a bus on National Highway in Balochistan’s Barkhan district late on Tuesday night, the security and administration officials confirmed.
The attack took place on the National Highway in Rarkan area of Barkan district, where unidentified armed men stopped a passenger bus and killed seven passengers after checking their identity cards, AC Khadim Hussain revealed.
The miscreants “offloaded seven passengers from a bus after checking their identity cards and killed them”, said Barkhan Deputy Commissioner (DC) Waqar Khurshid Alam.
DC Alam said, “All seven who were travelling in the coach belonged to Punjab, and were on their way to Faisalabad.”
The Barkhan DC also said security forces had cordoned off the area after the incident. The bodies of the seven slain men were later shifted to the district headquarters hospital.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Security sources confirmed that the assailants set up a blockade on the highway in the Rarkan area and forced the passengers out of the bus.
The victims, who were travelling from Quetta to Faisalabad, were then shot dead after their identification cards were checked.
Local authorities confirmed the killings and said that the armed men were still believed to be in the area. The provincial administration stopped passenger vehicles at several points, including Rakhni Bewatta and Mekhtar, as a precautionary measure.
When local law enforcement agencies, including the Levies force, arrived at the scene, they discovered the bodies of the abducted passengers.
The bodies were transported to a nearby hospital in Rakni, according to the Levies force. The deceased were residents of various cities in Punjab.
According to the bus service office, the bus was travelling from Quetta to Faisalabad with at least 45 passengers on board.
One passenger, Zeeshan Mustafa, a resident of Burewala travelling to Multan, reported that the assailants took his brother away after checking his identity card.
“The gunmen numbered between 10 to 12 were armed with Kalashnikovs”, Zeeshan said.
The security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to apprehend the perpetrators. Following the incident, two-way vehicular traffic on the National Highway, connecting Punjab to Balochistan, was suspended.
Meanwhile Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind said security forces, including Frontier Corps and levies personnel, had reached the site of the incident.
“The security forces have continued their hunt of the terrorists,” Rind said in a statement.
Condemning the brutal killing of seven innocent passengers, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Safaraz Bugti vowed a “concrete response” to terrorism.
“The cowardly attack by enemies of peace is intolerable and a concrete response will be given,” CM Bugti vowed.
Noting that terrorists were “targeting innocent and defenceless people”, he said: “We will service justice to terrorists who have martyred Pakistanis.”
Condemning the incident, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed the commitment to completely eliminate terrorism from the country.
In a statement on Wednesday, PM Shehbaz asserted, “Those who harm innocent and defenceless people will have to pay a very heavy price.”
The prime minister reaffirmed the commitment to completely eliminate terrorism from the country.
Expressing grief over the killing of the bus passengers, he conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls.
PM Shehbaz directed that the perpetrators be brought to justice at the earliest, the report added. “The sacrifices of innocent civilians will never go in vain.”
President Asif Ali Zardarialso strongly condemned the killing of seven bus passengers in the Barkhan city of Balochistan.
In a statement, the president prayed for peace for the departed souls and strength for the bereaved families to bear the loss.
“The killing of innocent people is a coward and heinous act. The terrorists are the enemies of peace and humanity. They want to mar the peace in Balochistan,” the president said and assured that the perpetrators would be taken to the task.
The incident comes days after 12 were killed in a blast targeting a bus carrying coalminers in Harnai.
Balochistan has witnessed a spate of attacks targeting those hailing from Punjab. In two separate incidents in April 2024, nine people were killed after being forced off a bus near Noshki, while two labourers from Punjab were shot in Kech.
In May last year, seven barbers from Punjab were shot dead near Gwadar, while August saw 23 travellers offloaded from trucks and buses and shot in the Musakhail district.
