- One passenger also injured in attack on Karachi-bound bus on Coastal Highway
- Seven members of a family killed in Sohbatpur district over a ‘suspected old enmity’
GWADAR: Five people were gunned down, and one other was injured after being offloaded from a Karachi-bound bus on Coastal Highway in Gwadar’s Kalmat area.
Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Hamoodur Rehman confirmed the incident, saying it occurred in Kalmat area of Coastal Highway where gunmen offloaded passengers from a Karachi-bound bus after checking their identity cards and executed them.
“One passenger was injured in the incident”, the DC added.
According to Highway Police Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Hafeez Baloch, five people were killed by armed men who blocked the highway late last night.
“Three trailers carrying urea from Gwadar port were set on fire in the Tajaban area”, he added.
Officials said the five people were killed in the Kalmat area between Pasni and Ormara after being offloaded from a Karachi-bound passenger bus.
“Armed men killed five passengers after checking their ID cards and took away three others,” an official of the local administration said, adding that they belonged to Punjab.
According to media reports, the militants set up a blockade on the highway, identified non-local passengers, and carried out the brutal attack. Two passenger buses were also set on fire, and a search operation was also conducted in the area.
The identities of the victims are being verified, but one of the deceased is believed to be from Multan.
Security forces had moved towards the area where militants had blocked highways, with operations to clear the roads underway.
The incident is the latest in a series of attacks in Balochistan, where militants have targeted security forces, foreigners, and non-locals. The region has seen a surge in violence in recent months, with several incidents of armed attacks and road blockades reported.
President, PM condemn killing of five passengers in Kalmat
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday strongly condemned the killing of five passengers in a firing incident in the Kalmat area of Gwadar.
The president and prime minister, in their separately issued statements, prayed for peace for the departed souls, early recovery of the injured, and strength for the bereaved families to bear the loss.
“The terrorists are the enemies of the country’s development and prosperity of Balochistan. They cannot see progress in Balochistan,” the president said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz directed the authorities concerned to provide the best possible medical treatment to the injured people and investigate the incident to identify and punish the perpetrators.
Calling the miscreants the enemies of peace and development, he said that their cowardly actions of killing innocent people reflected their brutality.
“We will never allow the anti-state designs of miscreants to succeed,” he resolved.
Prime Minister Shehbaz praised the security forces and law enforcement agencies for thwarting the nefarious designs of the anti-state elements. The entire nation, including myself, is proud of them, he remarked.
Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the incident and reaffirmed his government’s resolve to take stern action terrorists.
In a post on X, CM Bugti said: “Offloading innocent passengers from a bus and murdering them based on their identity is a heinous and cowardly act.”
Extending his condolences to the bereaved families, CM Bugti pledged that the “war against hardcore terrorists would continue and they would be brought to justice by all means”.
According to SSP Baloch, roads were also blocked in Turbat, Panjgur and Pasni. Levies officials said roadblocks were also witnessed in the Bolan, Kolpur and Mastung areas. They added that one of Levies’ vehicles was also set on fire in the Mastung area.
There were also late-night reports about an attack on a security forces post in Turbat. Heavy exchange of fire and explosions were heard in the Turbat town, but there was no official confirmation of the incident.
Seven of same family killed in Sohbatpur land dispute
Meanwhile, seven members of a family were killed in Balochistan’s Sohbatpur district, apparently over a ‘suspected’ old enmity.
According to SSP Muhammad Yousuf Karim Bhangar, armed men killed three men after storming the house of farmer Muhammad Siddique in Mir Dor Khan Khosa village.
He informed the incident occurred within the jurisdiction of the RD 238 Police Station.
“Later, the assailants set ablaze the house and crops, resulting in the deaths of three children and a woman,” the officer said.
The SSP said that the deceased persons aged between three to 45 years and bodies have been shifted to Sohbatpur DHQ Hospital for medico-legal procedures.
The police informed that a dispute had been going on between two tribes in Sohbatpur over the ownership of a piece of land.
The fresh attack comes amid a tense security situation prevailing in the province after the terrorist hijacking of the Jaffar Express train earlier this month. As many 26 hostages, including 18 security personnel, lost their lives with five more security personnel were martyred during the operation conducted for the release of the passengers from the outlawed BLA terrorists.
On March 16, three security personnel and two civilians died as a vehicle-borne suicide bomber attacked a security forces convoy in the Noskhi district.
Last week, four labourers from Punjab were shot dead by unknown assailants in Balochistan’s Kalat district, while four policemen were similarly gunned down in Nushki.
The previous month, seven Punjab-bound passengers were offloaded from a bus and shot dead in Balochistan’s Barkhan district.
