At least three people were killed and seven others injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus traveling from Karachi to Quetta in Balochistan’s Kalat district, according to a statement by provincial government spokesperson Shahid Rind.
Rind confirmed that the injured were being transported to the District Headquarters Hospital Kalat, where an emergency had been declared to treat the victims. He added that security forces, rescue teams, and the district administration had swiftly reached the site of the incident. A search operation was launched as security personnel cordoned off the area in pursuit of the attackers.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned the attack, offering his condolences to the victims’ families. He blamed “Fitna-Al-Hindustan” — a term the government uses for Indian-backed terrorist groups operating in Balochistan — for the assault on innocent civilians.
“The targeting of unarmed passengers by Fitna-Al-Hindustan terrorists is a cowardly act,” Naqvi said in a statement. “These militants are trying to destabilize peace by attacking soft targets. With the nation’s support, we will thwart these Indian-sponsored conspiracies.”
This latest incident follows a similar attack just a week earlier, in which at least nine passengers were abducted and killed by armed men in the Sur-Dakai region — a remote area near the border of Zhob and Loralai districts in Balochistan. The assailants intercepted two coaches heading to Punjab, pulled out ten passengers after verifying their national identity cards, and later executed nine of them. Survivors reported hearing gunfire as their vehicles were allowed to leave.
Read Top Stories
The banned Balochistan Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the killings, stating that the attack occurred after the group blocked the highway between Musakhail-Makhtar and Khajuri. According to reports, the attackers specifically targeted individuals from Punjab after checking their ID cards.
In May this year, the federal government officially declared all terrorist outfits operating in Balochistan as “Fitna-Al-Hindustan.”