In Pak-occupied-Balochistan, a group of unidentified individuals opened fire on a vehicle and a passenger bus, killing 11 people, including nine from Punjab.
The attack took place on Friday night in Nushki district, when the individuals blocked the Quetta-Nushki-Taftan N-40 National Highway. The incident happened at around 7:00 p.m. when the armed individuals on their motorbikes blocked a highway. In just 3 k.m.from the city center, dozens of armed individuals blockaded the main highway. The attack targeted an area with significant security presence – an arms depot of the Pak Army is located nearby, and there are two other military posts within one to two k.m. radius.
The individuals spent over two hours stopping and searching vehicles on the highway, checking the identification cards of the passengers. During the attack, the attackers also destroyed the nearby railway track through an explosion. Concurrently, they launched a sustained rocket and weapons assault on the adjacent arms depot, which continued for more than 20 minutes.
Nushki Deputy Commissioner Habibullah Musakhel said the armed men stopped vehicles and started checking passengers’ identification cards.
During the checking, the individuals opened fire on a car, causing it to overturn. A relative of a local politician, former BAP, was killed and four others were injured in the shooting. Two more people were killed with four others injured when the individuals fired upon another vehicle and a motorbike after they refused to stop for snap-checking.
The individuals then stopped a passenger bus traveling from Quetta to Taftan. They checked the passengers’ IDs and abducted nine people who were from Punjab. The bodies of these nine abducted individuals were later found under a bridge, all having been shot dead. Following the attack, the puppet security forces have kicked off a search operation in the area.
The murdered men were identified as laborers from Mandi Bahauddin, Wazirabad and Gujranwala who were heading to Taftan. The individuals also fired rockets at a Frontier Corps depot, but there were no casualties. However, it is worth noting that the military has always been reluctant to fully acknowledge or provide details about attacks on its own facilities and personnel.
Meanwhile, Pak-occupied-Balochistan’s puppet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and puppet Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti offered condolences to the victims’.
The region is a hotbed of revolutionary forces, and while no freedom fighter group has claimed responsibility, it can be concluded that this might be the work of the brave Baloch sarmachars (freedom fighters).
This attack is very complex and interesting because the armed individuals blocked the main highway, which was in close proximity to a Pak Army camp, and they took their time to complete the work. This shows bravery and defiance against the brutal force that has captured the resource-rich region of Balochistan, turning it into a nightmare.
Pak-occupied Balochistan is currently experiencing systematic genocide based on its identity, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, military operations, forced displacements, economic oppression, and other atrocities.