11 security personnel among 14 shot dead after being offloaded from bus in Pakistan

As per Xinhua news agency, the deceased included nine personnel from Pakistan Navy, one from Pakistan Coast Guard and one from Pakistan Air Force, whereas identities of the remaining three victims were not determined yet.

Representational Image/ Courtesy: AFP

New Delhi: 11 security personnel of Pakistan were among 14 passengers who were forcibly offloaded from a bus and highway in Balochistan and were shot dead by unidentified gunmen, media report said. As per Xinhua news agency, the deceased included nine personnel from Pakistan Navy, one from Pakistan Coast Guard and one from Pakistan Air Force, whereas identities of the remaining three victims were not determined yet. Around 15 to 20 unidentified gunmen in camouflage uniform reportedly stopped five or six buses travelling between Karachi and Gwadar, news agency PTI reported citing Levies sources.  They stopped a bus on the Makran Coastal Highway in Balochistan's Ormara area, checked the identity cards of passengers and offloaded about 16 of them. As per Dawn, at least 14 were shot dead, while two passengers managed to escape the massacre and made it to the nearest Levies check post. They were shifted to a hospital for treatment, The motive behind the killings and the identity of the victims are yet to be ascertained. Balochi separatist organisation Baloch Raji Ajoi Sangar claimed the attack on their unverified Twitter account, saying that their offensives against the security forces will further intensify, Xinhua news agency said. Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is Pakistan's largest and poorest province, rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies. This is the second incident involving mass killings in Balochistan this month. On April 12, a terror attack targeting the Hazara community in Quetta left at least 20 dead.