Gunmen in Pakistan kidnap, kill nine bus passengers: Officials
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An ambulance near the attack site in Pakistan's south-western province of Balochistan on July 11.
PHOTO: XINHUA
Follow topic:
- Nine bus passengers were found dead in Balochistan after being kidnapped by insurgents.
- The Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) claimed responsibility, alleging the victims were spies for Pakistani intelligence.
- Pakistan accuses India of backing the militants, a claim India denies, amid increased separatist attacks targeting Pakistani and Chinese interests.
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QUETTA, Pakistan – The Pakistani authorities retrieved the bullet-ridden bodies of nine bus passengers kidnapped by insurgents in a spate of attacks on buses in the mountainous south-western province of Balochistan, officials said on July 11.
The separatist Baloch Liberation Front claimed the killings of the nine labourers, saying that they were involved in spying for Pakistani intelligence agencies.
Baloch separatists, who have been demanding a greater share of resources, have played a role in similar past killings of those identified as hailing from the eastern province of Punjab.
Government official Naveed Alam said the bodies with bullet wounds were found in the mountains overnight, while a provincial government spokesman, Mr Shahid Rind, said the passengers were seized from two buses on the evening of July 10.
“We are identifying the bodies and reaching out to their families,” he said, adding that the victims, working as labourers in the restive region, were returning to their homes in Punjab.
They include two brothers who were going to attend the funeral of their father, Mr Alam said.
Ethnic insurgents accuse Pakistan’s government of stealing regional resources to fund expenditure elsewhere, mainly in the sprawling province of Punjab.
Security forces foiled three insurgent attacks on July 10 before the kidnappings, Mr Rind said, accusing Pakistan’s neighbour and arch-rival India of backing the militants.
The Indian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
New Delhi denies accusations by Islamabad that it is funding, training and backing the militants in a bid to stoke instability in the region, where Pakistan relies on China and other international investors to develop mines and mineral processing.
“India is now doubling down to further its nefarious agenda through its proxies,” the Pakistani army said in a statement that followed the worst fighting in nearly three decades
Baloch separatists claimed the killing of nine labourers seized on July 10 in Pakistan’s south-western province of Balochistan.
PHOTO: XINHUA
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is the strongest among the insurgent groups long operating in the area bordering Afghanistan and Iran, a mineral-rich region.
In recent months, separatists have stepped up their attacks, mostly targeting Pakistan’s military, which has launched an intelligence-based offensive against them.
Their other main targets have been Chinese nationals and interests, in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, with the separatists accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad to exploit resources.
The BLA blew up a railway track and took over 400 train passengers hostage in an attack in March that killed 31. REUTERS
