Nine people from Punjab were killed near Balochistan's Noshki in Pakistan in the early hours today, when gunmen forced them off a bus they were travelling in and shot them, 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," Deputy Commissioner Habibullah Musakhel told Dawn.com.
The gunmen checked the identity cards of passengers from the Taftan-bound bus and kidnapped them, he added. They were subsequently killed. DawnNewsTV reported that the bodies of the abducted passengers were found under a bridge nearby.
The nine victims were from Punjab, Noshki Station House Officer Asad Mengal told Dawn.com.
In a separate attack on the same highway, a car that tried to force its way through the gunmen's cordon was fired upon, killing one passenger and injuring four, the SHO said.
When the car did not stop, the gunment opened fire. The tires of the vehicle burst, which made it overturn, SHO Mengal said. One of the car's passengers was a brother of Provincial Assembly member Ghulam Dastgir Badini, the SHO added.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack and sought a report into the incident, according to a post on X by PML-N.
