Nine bus passengers were shot dead by gunmen in Balochistan, Pakistan. This tragic event took place when armed attackers abducted them from several buses on Thursday evening, as reported by Al Jazeera.
The bus was en route from Balochistan to central Punjab. According to the report, the travelers were allegedly targeted due to their Punjabi ethnicity.
The bodies, which bore bullet wounds, were found in the mountains overnight, as quoted by Naveed Alam, a government official.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi have acknowledged the incident and strongly condemned the killings. “The blood of innocent people will be avenged. The killing of innocent citizens is a blatant act of terrorism by India-sponsored terrorists,” Sharif was reported to have said.
India has not yet responded to his remarks, and no group has taken responsibility for the attack.
President Zardari attributes blame to the Balochistan Liberation Army. The President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, denounced the “brutal killing of passengers” in Balochistan, as reported by AP, referencing his statement. He accused the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) of being responsible for the murders, asserting that the group seeks to “instigate chaos and instability in Pakistan.”
The BLA, a faction of separatist Baloch fighters, has a history of similar attacks where passengers were killed after being identified as originating from the eastern Punjab province.
Last year, the BLA was responsible for the deaths of 23 passengers in Balochistan, according to AP. However, on Thursday night, the militant group released a statement claiming involvement in an attack on a military camp in the Surab district of Balochistan, which is located far from the sites of the bus attacks.
