Militants kidnap, kill 11 people in Pakistan's Balochistan province

Karachi: At least 11 people, including nine bus passengers, have been killed by unknown militants in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province on Friday.

In the first incident, armed men stopped a bus on the highway in Noshki district and kidnapped nine men at gunpoint, police said.

“The bodies of these nine men were later found with bullet wounds in the nearby mountainous areas near a bridge,” one official said.

“The bus was going from Quetta to Taftan when armed men stopped it and after identifying passengers took the nine men to the mountainous areas,” he added.

In a separate incident, a car was fired upon on the same highway in which two passengers were killed and two others injured.

Balochistan’s Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said that the terrorists involved in the killing of the 11 people on the Noshki highway would not be forgiven and hunted down soon.

Bugti that the terrorists involved in the attacks would be chased, adding that their aim was to sabotage the peace of Balochistan.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the incident, saying that the government stands with the families of the deceased at this time.

"There is no room for such a tragic incident...," he added.

No banned outfit has claimed responsibility for the killings but in recent weeks this year there has been a surge in terror attacks by banned outfits and terrorists in the province in which security forces and installations have also been brazenly targeted.

The banned Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed to having carried out three major terror strikes in the province in recent weeks in Mach town, Gwadar port and a naval base in Turbat in which security forces killed some 17 militants.