Twelve people were killed in two separate firing incidents early on Saturday morning along the National Highway in Nushki district of Balochistan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the harrowing incident and sought a report.
The first incident took place as a bus carrying passengers from Quetta to Taftan was targeted by armed assailants. Nine passengers were kidnapped from the bus and subsequently shot to death.
The Noshki SSP said the victims were identified and then killed, adding that they hailed from Mandi Bahauddin, Gujranwala, and Wazirabad cities of Punjab. He said their bodies were discovered in a desolate, mountainous area.
Simultaneously, in the other incident, a vehicle plying on the National Highway was fired upon, in which two people were killed by armed individuals. Three others were injured.
The victims were residents of Nushki itself. Later, one of the injured persons also passed away during treatment, raising the overall death toll in the two incidents to 12.
The district deputy commissioner, Habibullah Musakhail, confirmed the incident and said the victims' bodies were later found beneath a bridge after a search by police and paramilitary forces. He said that among the dead were nine bus passengers.
Approximately 12 armed men, according to the police, had blocked the N-40 Regional Corporations Development (RCD) highway. The attackers stopped a bus and took nine passengers to the nearby mountains, where they were shot dead, after verifying the national identity cards.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the incidents and expressed deep sorrow and regret over them. He prayed for the victim and expressed sympathy and condolences with their families.
He has sought a report on the incident, stressing that terrorism would be eradicated from the country. "Terrorists and their facilitators will be punished," the PM stressed.
Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi wasted no time in strongly condemning the incidents and expressing sorrow and grief over the heinous acts. He emphasized that such atrocities have no place in the Pakistan envisioned by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
He also expressed solidarity with the bereaved families and said the government stood with them in this hour of grief. Naqvi vowed to ensure that those responsible for the bloodshed are brought swiftly to justice.
Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti echoed similar sentiments, condemning the barbaric killings and reaffirming his commitment to relentlessly pursue and prosecute the perpetrators. He asserted that the terrorists involved in the incidents would not be spared and face the full force of the law, emphasizing that the enemies of peace are enemies of the nation itself.
"The killing of passengers is an inhumane act, an unforgivable crime," he asserted, adding that the terrorists involved in the "cowardly attacks on innocent people: would be chased and eliminated.
Bugti extended his heartfelt condolences to the grieving families and reassured them of the government's resolve in the face of such cowardly acts. "The state will play its part," he added.
