By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Gunmen killed at least five passengers and wounded one from eastern Punjab province after stopping buses on a highway in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan, government officials said on Thursday.
The attack, which occurred near the coastal town of Pasni, is the latest incident targeting commuters from Punjab in the region, where separatist militants have been waging a low-scale insurgency against the state.
The attackers intercepted the buses on the coastal highway near Kalmat and checked the passengers’ identity cards before removing six individuals. They then shot and killed five of them, all from Punjab, while one passenger sustained injuries.
Assistant Commissioner Pasni, Moheem Khan Gichki, said armed men forcibly removed six passengers, five of whom were killed.
“Armed men stopped buses at the coastal highway near Kalmat, Pasni, and forcibly removed six passengers after checking their ID cards,” Gichki said. “Five Punjab-based travelers who were traveling to Karachi from Gwadar were killed in the attack and one sustained injuries.”
The attackers, who remain unidentified, also set a trawler and a vehicle on fire before fleeing the scene.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which has previously launched similar attacks on passenger buses in the province.
In February, seven Punjab-based passengers were killed in a similar attack in Barkhan district.
Earlier this month, militants killed at least 10 people after hijacking a train carrying hundreds of approximately 450 passengers in Bolan town of lawless province.
The BLA is a banned secessionist armed group part of a broader rebellion in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and least populated and developed province, bordering Iran and Afghanistan.
Militants are angered by what they say is the state’s exploitation of the region’s rich mineral resources, with little of the proceeds filtering down to people in what remains Pakistan’s poorest province. They accuse the federal government and Punjab, the country’s most prosperous province, of exploiting Balochistan’s rich natural resources.
Balochistan is home to key mining projects, including Reko Diq, run by mining giant Barrick Gold, and believed to be one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines. China also operates a gold and copper mine in the province and is building a port in the seaside city of Gwadar.
The incident has sparked widespread condemnation, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressing sorrow over the loss of life.
“Subversive elements are enemies of peace and development in Balochistan,” Sharif said in a statement. “Cowardly attacks by such elements on innocent people clearly reflect their barbarity.”
In a separate incident, an explosion near a police vehicle in Quetta’s Barech Market area killed at least three people and injured 21 others, officials said.
The blast occurred on Quetta’s Double Road, with police surgeon Dr. Ayesha confirming that three bodies were moved to the Civil Hospital, while 21 people were injured in the blast.
“Four of the injured are in critical condition, while four policemen are among the wounded,” Dr. Ayesha added.
Balochistan’s health department spokesperson Dr. Waseem Baig confirmed the deaths and said the injured had been moved to the trauma center at Civil Hospital.
The nature of the blast is still being determined, according to Balochistan Government Spokesperson Shahid Rind.
Video footage circulating on social media showed a crowd gathering at the scene, with a flaming motorcycle wreckage next to a charred police pickup truck. A damaged Suzuki Alto was also visible, while sirens could be heard in the background.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province, which has faced insurgency and sectarian violence in recent years.
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