At least 23 people were killed in a brutal attack on Monday in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Armed men reportedly intercepted vehicles on an inter-provincial highway in Musakhel district, forcibly removing passengers, checking their identities, and subsequently executing them. According to Dawn newspaper, the majority of the victims were from the Punjab province, indicating a targeted killing.
The attackers not only blocked the highway but also set fire to ten vehicles, further escalating the violence. Assistant Commissioner Najeeb Kakar confirmed that all the victims were from Punjab and that emergency services were actively transporting the bodies to local hospitals.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti condemned the attack, describing it as a “terrorist act.” He extended his condolences to the victims’ families and vowed that the provincial government would relentlessly pursue those responsible. “We will ensure that these terrorists and their accomplices face justice,” Bugti stated.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed their deep sorrow over the incident. In a joint statement, they called the attackers “enemies of the nation” and emphasized that the perpetrators must be brought to justice. Federal Minister Attaullah Tarar echoed these sentiments, condemning the attackers’ “brutality” in a statement posted on X by PML-N. “The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end,” he asserted.
The Musakhel attack follows a similar incident nearly four months ago, where nine passengers from Punjab were removed from a bus near Noshki and shot after their identities were checked. These incidents suggest a worrying pattern of ethnic or regional targeting.
A report by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) highlights the escalating violence in Pakistan, noting 380 fatalities and 220 injuries in the second quarter of the year alone, resulting from 240 incidents, including terror attacks and counter-terrorism operations.
In a similar tragic episode last October, unidentified assailants killed six laborers from Punjab in Turbat, located in Balochistan’s Kech district. Police described those killings as targeted, raising concerns over a possible ethnic motive behind the repeated violence.
