Militants kill 11 people in Pakistan’s Balochistan province in latest terror attacks

Militants kill 11 people in Pakistan’s Balochistan province in latest terror attacks

At least 11 people, nine of them from Punjab province, were shot dead by militants in Pakistan's Balochistan in two separate incidents, authorities said on Saturday, in the latest terror attack in the restive region. At least nine passengers were killed in the Noshki area of the province when gunmen forced them off a bus they were travelling in and kidnapped them after verifying their Punjabi ethnicity, officials said. "About 10-12 gunmen blockaded the Quetta-Taftan Highway, N-40, in the vicinity of Sultan Charhai near Noshki and abducted nine passengers from a bus," according to a senior civilian official of the area, Habibullah Musakhel.

He said that the gunmen first checked the identity cards of passengers and then kidnapped only those hailing from Punjab province. Later, they killed them and dumped their bodies under a nearby bridge.

In a separate incident, two people were killed on the same highway when gunmen fired at their car after they tried to break through their cordon. One of the victims was a brother of provincial assembly member Ghulam Dastgir Badini, police said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks so far but Baloch nationalists often carry out such acts of violence against the people from Punjab. They allege that the people from Punjab were involved in extracting the mineral wealth of Balochistan.

In October last year, gunmen killed six labourers from Punjab in Turbat area of Balochistan.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack and sought a report into the incident, according to Radio Pakistan. "We stand with the bereaved families in this hour of grief," he said and promised to eliminate violence from the country.

Balochistan's Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said that the terrorists involved in the killing of the 11 people on the Noshki highway would not be forgiven and hunted down soon.

Bugti that the terrorists involved in the attacks would be chased, adding that they aimed to sabotage the peace of Balochistan.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the incident, saying that the government stands with the families of the deceased at this time.

"There is no room for such a tragic incident...," he added.

The banned Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed to have carried out three major terror strikes in the province in recent weeks in Mach town, Gwadar port and a naval base in Turbat in which security forces killed some 17 militants.

Pakistan has been blaming Afghanistan for sheltering Pakistani Taliban terrorists, a charge dismissed by Kabul's Taliban regime.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)