Gunmen killed nine bus passengers after abducting them in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Friday.
Shahid Rind, a spokesperson for the provincial government, said the passengers were kidnapped from several buses on Thursday evening.
Government official Naveed Alam confirmed that their bodies, bearing gunshot wounds, were found overnight in mountainous areas.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. However, Baloch separatist militants have previously been involved in similar incidents, targeting passengers identified as being from Punjab province in eastern Pakistan.
The Baloch Liberation Army is the most prominent among several insurgent groups operating in the mineral-rich region, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. These groups accuse the Pakistani state of exploiting the region’s resources to benefit Punjab.
