Nine ethnic Punjabi bus passengers abducted and shot dead in Balochistan on N‑70 highway. President blames BLA. Similar attacks in 2024‑25 targeting migrants from Punjab. Government vows action.
Balochistan, Pakistan: At least nine passengers—all reportedly from Pakistan’s Punjab province—were abducted and shot dead after two buses travelling from Quetta to Punjab were stopped late Thursday night on the N‑70 highway in Balochistan’s Loralai and Zhob districts, officials confirmed.
According to Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind, the attackers targeted individuals whose identity documents indicated they were from eastern Punjab. After being removed from the buses, the victims were taken a short distance away and executed—nine bodies were later recovered along the roadside with gunshot wounds .
Punjab’s district administrator in Dera Ghazi Khan, Ashfaq Chaudhry, said the assailants appeared to specifically target Punjabis. Law enforcement is conducting a manhunt for the perpetrators.
Who carried out the attack?
No group has officially claimed responsibility. However, President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the “brutal killing of passengers” and accused the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) of orchestrating the attack to destabilise Pakistan.
The BLA, named in previous violent incidents across Balochistan—including mass shootings and a high-profile train hijacking in March that killed dozens—denied involvement. Instead, it claimed it was simultaneously engaged in an assault on a military camp far from the site of this attack.
Background and broader conflict
This incident bears disturbing resemblance to earlier ethnically targeted attacks, such as in August 2024 when BLA gunmen pulled passengers from vehicles on the same N‑70 highway, checked their identity cards, and executed at least 22 individuals—most of them from Punjab—before setting vehicles ablaze (BBC). In February 2025, the group claimed responsibility for killing seven more Punjabis in a similar roadside shooting in Barkhan district.
The N‑70 National Highway stretches over roughly 440 km between Multan and Qilla Saifullah, cutting across Punjab and Balochistan provinces. It is a frequent corridor for violence, especially targeting migrant labourers from Punjab travelling for seasonal or low-paid work in Balochistan’s resource-rich but unstable regions.
Efforts by the Pakistani state to suppress the insurgency—among other groups such as BLA and BLF—have failed to halt repeated attacks on civilians, security personnel, and foreign projects. The province remains an ongoing hotspot of ethnic and sectarian violence, state accusations of foreign support for insurgents notwithstanding.
Local reactions and government response
Commissioner Saadat Husain of the Loralai Division confirmed recovery of nine victims’ bodies. He stated that among them were two brothers, identified as Osman and Jaber, who were travelling with their father to attend the funeral rites of their deceased parent in Dunya Pur. They were shot along with other mourners in a targeted ethnic attack .
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also issued a forceful condemnation, pledging a swift crackdown: “We will deal with the terrorists with full force, and the blood of innocent people will be avenged,” he stated .
Impact and outlook
Human rights groups have previously cautioned that ethnic targeting, extrajudicial killings, and unchecked militancy in Balochistan threaten to spiral into deeper civil conflict. Analysts warn that without political reconciliation and improved security measures, such cycles of violence may continue and radicalise further parts of Pakistan’s population.
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