Armed men kidnap and kill nine bus passengers in Pakistan

Tariq Butt, Gulf Today Correspondent / Agencies

At least nine passengers travelling on two Punjab-bound coaches were abducted and killed by unidentified armed men in Sur-Dakai area, on the border between Zhob and Loralai districts of Balochistan on Thursday night.

The incident occurred near Zhob, a town in northern Balochistan, where armed assailants intercepted passenger buses late Thursday evening, took passengers off, and shot them dead selectively after checking their identity cards.

Government official Naveed Alam said the bodies with bullet wounds were found in the mountains overnight, while a provincial government spokesman, Shahid Rind, said the passengers were seized from two buses on Thursday evening.

"Nine people abducted from both coaches have been killed, and their bodies have been recovered,” said Zhob Assistant Commissioner Naveed Alam, adding that the bodies were being transported to Rakhni for dispatch to their native towns in Punjab.

The provincial government has officially confirmed that armed assailants stopped passenger coaches in Sur-Dakai, removed passengers, and selectively identified and executed nine individuals, all of whom were residents of Punjab.

The bodies were later handed over to local officials at the Balochistan–Punjab border, according to the commissioner of Dera Ghazi Khan.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti on Friday asserted that those responsible for the brutal killing of nine passengers near Zhob’s Sur-Dakai a area deserve no leniency, condemning the attack as an unforgivable crime against innocent civilians.

Chairing a high-level law and order meeting in Quetta, the chief minister was briefed by Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari on the incident.

According to the post-meeting handout, Bugti directed security agencies to ensure that all terrorists involved in the incident are brought to justice.

Bugti labelled the killings an “unforgivable crime” and reiterated his government’s commitment to eradicating terrorism from the province.

Shahid Rind, the Balochistan government’s spokesperson, confirmed the incident and said that Fitna Al Hindustan — a term used for terrorist organisations in Balochistan, sponsored by India - had carried out attacks at three different places - Kakat, Mastung and Sur-Dakai.

"There are reports about the kidnapping of some passengers from Sur-Dakai area,” he said, adding that security forces had launched a search operation to safely recover any remaining kidnapped passengers.

According to officials, two passenger coaches en route to Punjab were intercepted in the Sur-Dakai area near the N-70 highway, close to Dab - a place along the Loralai-Zhob border. A group of armed men had blocked the road and stopped the two vehicles.

The armed assailants boarded the coaches, checked the identity cards of passengers and forced 10 persons off the vehicles at gunpoint.

"They dragged out 10 passengers - seven from one coach and three from the other - and took them away (to an unknown place),” a surviving passenger told Levies. "I don’t know what they did to them, but I heard gunfire as we were leaving.”

After abducting the nine passengers, the assailants allowed both coaches to leave the area.

Security forces suspended traffic on the highway and began a large-scale search operation to locate the perpetrators.

Officials said the attackers checked the ID cards of all passengers and specifically targeted individuals with Punjab addresses. They also opened fire on the coaches during the abduction to prevent any escape.

The Balochistan Liberation Front, a banned outfit, later claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for the group said they had killed the nine individuals after blocking the highway between Musakhail-Makhtar and Khajuri.

Security forces foiled three insurgent attacks on Thursday before the kidnappings, Rind said, accusing neighbour India of backing the militants. The Indian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.