10 inhabitants of Punjab, recalled ethnic motive has been kidnapped
Armed men attacked two buses in the troubled south-western province of Bellucistan, Pakistan, kidnapped 10 passengers, all resident in Punjab, where they were directed.
Shortly after, 9 lifeless bodies were recovered in the area, a local administrator said. The liberation front of Bellucistan, a separatist group of Beluci ethnic group, claimed the responsibility of the attack, claiming to have deliberately targeted people from Punjab, in a clear aggression for ethnic reasons.
The attack took place in the Sur-Dakai area, a remote section near the border between the districts of Zhob and Loralai, near the N-70 motorway. The authorities said that armed men blocked the road, stopped two buses and checked the identity documents of the passengers before taking 10 people with the force in Punjab.
According to eyewitnesses, armed men climbed on both buses, separated some passengers and moved them away under the threat of weapons. Subsequently, he added, shots were heard at a distance.
“Nine bodies were recovered in the area,” Sadat Hussain said a local administrator. “The victims are transported to the city of Rakhni for identification and subsequent transfer to their families,” he added.
The killings follow a disturbing scheme of ethnic attacks in Bellucistan. In February, seven people from Punjab were killed after being made up of a bus directed to Lahore in the Barkhan district. In the same way, 22 passengers were killed with a gunshot in August last year in an area between the districts of Loralai and Musa Khail.
