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. – The Indian Express
