Gunmen killed at least 22 people in southwest Pakistan on Monday.(Aamir Qureshi / AFP)
Gunmen killed at least 22 people in southwest Pakistan on Monday, after forcing them out of vehicles and checking their ethnicity, government officials said.
“At least 22 people were killed and 5 injured when militants stopped several busses, trucks and vans on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan,” Najibullah Kakar, a senior official in Musakhail district of Balochistan, told AFP.
“Vehicles traveling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot,” he added.
He said 19 Punjabis and 3 Baloch were killed, mostly Punjabi labourers.
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Hameed Zehri, another senior official in the district, confirmed the death toll to AFP.
“It seems that the BLA (Baloch Liberation Army) terrorists are behind the incident,” he said.
The Baloch Liberation Army is the most active militant separatist group in the region.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but poorest province, despite an abundance of untapped natural resources.
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