An official stated that at least 23 people have died in the Musakhail district of Balochistan as a result of armed men shooting at them after verifying their identification after removing passengers from trucks and buses early on Monday morning. Armed men reportedly halted the interprovincial highway in the district’s Rarasham area and removed people from multiple busses, according to Musakhail Assistant Commissioner Najeeb Kakar.
According to AC Kakar of AFP, the offenders stopped trucks, buses, and vans one after the other on a roadway that connected Punjab and Balochistan. The militants numbered between thirty and forty. 22 cars were stopped, he said. “Punjab residents were identified and shot, and cars going to and from the province were examined.”
According to the authorities, those who were slain were from Punjab. 23 cars, including 17 Trucks, 2 passenger vans, and 4 pick-ups, were also set on fire by the armed guys, according to AC Kakar. The bodies were moved to the hospital by the Levies and police authorities as soon as they arrived, according to Kakar. After claiming responsibility for the incident, the most active terrorist group in the province, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), called it one of the bloodiest shootings in the region lately.
So far this year, there have been two similar attacks. Following the examination of their ID cards by gunmen, nine passengers were shot and killed in April after being offloaded from a bus close to Noshki city in Balochistan.
The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies reports that there were at least 170 militant strikes in Balochistan last year that resulted in the deaths of 151 civilians and 114 security officers. Over the past few years, there have been attacks similar to these.
Six laborers from Punjab were shot and killed by unidentified assailants in Turbat, in the Kech region of Balochistan, in October of last year. The police said that the killings were premeditated. The fact that each victim came from a different part of southern Punjab suggests that their ethnic background had a role in their selection. After examining their CNICs, gunmen stopped a bus in the Ormara neighborhood of the Gwadar area in 2019 and shot and killed 14 individuals, including Coast Guard, Navy, and Air Force personnel.
In the same event that happened in 2015, gunmen attacked a laborers’ camp outside Turbat early in the morning, killing 20 construction workers and injuring three more. The victims were from Punjab and Sindh. According to Radio Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari both vehemently denounced the terrorist act.
They prayed for the deceased souls and offered their condolences to the grieving families, expressing their anguish and sorrow at the loss of innocent lives in the incident. Declaring that the “brutal killing of innocent people was the killing of the entire humanity,” President Zardari demanded that those responsible be held accountable.
On the other hand, PM Shehbaz instructed the local government to work closely with the families of the deceased and help the injured get medical attention. Additionally, he gave the law enforcement organizations instructions to look into the issue right now. The prime minister promised that “the terrorists responsible for this incident will face severe punishment” and declared that “terrorism in any form is unacceptable in this country.”
The prime minister and the president reaffirmed Pakistan’s “unwavering commitment” to ending the threat of terrorism. Sarfaraz Bugti, the chief minister of Balochistan, also vehemently denounced the event. According to a statement released from his office, he sent his sincere sympathies and condolences to the families of those who perished in the terrorists’ terrible deed. He declared, “The terrorists and their enablers will not be able to escape an exemplary end,” and the government of Balochistan will take action against the terrorists.
