14 passengers shot dead on Makran Coastal Highway
About 15 masked assailants intercepted five or six buses on the highway.
ORMARA (Dunya News) – 14 passengers were brutally shot dead on Thursday at Makran Coastal Highway near Ormara, a town in Gwadar district in Balochistan, after forcing them to disembark from buses.
A naval official and a coast guard member were among those killed.
Police claims that about 15 masked assailants intercepted five or six buses on the highway, tied their hands and opened fire at them.
Balochistan Home Secretary Haider Ali told AFP that the assailants were wearing Frontier Corps uniforms.
Baluchistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove said the dead passengers had their legs and hands tied. Langove did not specify how the passengers were selected to be kidnapped and killed or their identities.
According to Balochistan Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohsin Hassan Butt, it was an act of "targeted killing". The victims were identified via their CNICs and shot at close range, he said.
Initial investigations further suggest that the victims were first forced to reveal their computerised national identity cards (CNICs) for their identification, offloaded from the buses and then were shot dead by the assailants.
A few passengers managed to escape the massacre and were shifted to a nearby hospital for medical attention.
The incident spread panic and fear among dwellers of the region and are unwilling to speak to the police investigating into the incident.
Meanwhile, Levies and police officers rushed to the spot, cordoned off the area and began an extensive search operation.
The motive behind the killings and the identity of the victims are yet to be ascertained. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Further investigation into the incident is underway.
Going towards Gwadar through Makran Coastal Highway Ormara comes in midway between Karachi and Gwadar, the Arabian Sea port town where China is building a deep-water port.
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack and asked for an urgent report.
“PM has directed the authorities to make every possible effort to identify and to bring the perpetrators of the barbaric act to justice,” Khan’s office said in a statement.
Furthermore, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal condemned the incident and offered his condolences to the victims’ families.
He termed the attack as “an act to build a conspiracy to halt progress in Balochistan and tarnish the state’s image.
He vowed that the progress would continue despite of such cowardly attacks, and terrorism would be eradicated from the region.
Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also condemned the incident and stated the attack, along with the recent attacks on the Hazara community and the April 16 Hayatabad gun battle, show a “pattern” and the government will continue the fight against terrorism.
He took to Twitter, following the attack, and stated that the country had sacrificed many lives but the “fight is far from over”.
On April 12, at least 20 people were killed and 48 people sustained critical injuries in a terrorist attack targeting members of the Hazara community in Quetta’s Hazarganji market. The attack claimed the lives of nine Hazara and a Frontier Corps (FC) soldier who was deputed for the community’s security.
