Unidentified gunmen in a targeted attack shot and killed at least 23 people from Pakistan’s Punjab province on Monday in the restive Balochistan province after offloading them from buses and checking their identities.
The incident happened in Balochistan’s Musakhel district.
Senior Superintendent of Police Ayub Khoso said that militants of an outlawed group put up blocks on the highway in the Rarashim area of the Musakhel district and offloaded 23 passengers. He, however, did not identify the outfit.
“The passengers were told to get down from buses and shot dead after being identified from their national ID cards,” Khoso said.
“Most of those killed belonged to southern Punjab and some are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suggesting they were killed because of their ethnic background,” he added.
Khoso said the armed men had also set some 12 vehicles on fire on the highway before fleeing into the nearby mountainous terrain.