In one of the deadliest attacks in the restive southwest of Pakistan, gunmen identified themselves and shot and killed 23 passengers after removing them from buses, cars, and trucks, police and officials said on Monday.
Baluchistan province’s Musakhail district is where the killings took place overnight, according to senior police official Ayub Achakzai. Before escaping the scene, the attackers set fire to at least ten vehicles.
In separate remarks, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and President Asif Ali Zardari referred to the attack as “barbaric” and promised that those responsible would face consequences.
“In a southwest Pakistani attack, gunmen kill 23 passengers who were taken from vehicles.”
The attack came hours after the outlawed Baluch Liberation Army separatist group warned people to stay away from the highways, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
In an effort to evict workers and other residents of the eastern Punjab region of the country, Baluchistan separatists have frequently used violence against them. The province has been plagued by a low-level insurgency for years.The majority of these previous killings have been attributed to the banned group and others who are calling for their country’s independence from Islamabad’s central government. Islamic militants also have a presence in the province.
Source: AP
