Senior police officials in Pakistan’s Balochistan province confirmed on Saturday that gunmen abducted and subsequently killed nine passengers from a bus in the region.
The tragic incident occurred in the mountainous Nushki district on Friday night as the bus traveled from the provincial capital of Quetta to Taftan, a town situated along the Iran border.
According to Abdullah Mengal, a police officer, the perpetrators, numbering between 10 to 12 individuals, stopped the bus and singled out nine men after inspecting their identity cards and determining their origin from the eastern province of Punjab. “All of them were traveling to Taftan,” Mengal stated.
The victims, found shot at close range, were discovered under a nearby bridge approximately an hour and a half after the abduction.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack thus far.
In a separate incident along the same highway, unidentified gunmen fired upon a car attempting to bypass a blockade, resulting in the death of one passenger and injuring at least four others. Reports from Dawn suggest that both attacks occurred at the same blockade.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the killings and pledged to hold the perpetrators accountable. “We stand with the bereaved families in this hour of grief,” he asserted, as reported by Radio Pakistan.
Balochistan has long been a region plagued by ethnic insurgent groups, who accuse the Pakistani state, largely dominated by Punjabis, of depriving them of their rightful share of the area’s abundant natural resources.
These insurgents have previously claimed responsibility for similar acts of violence in the region, which hosts the strategically significant Gwadar sea port, currently under development by neighboring China. The insurgents have also targeted Chinese nationals and their interests.
Beijing’s significant investment in regional development projects, including those in Balochistan, forms part of its $65 billion commitment to constructing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
