Pakistan: Gunmen kill 7 Punjabis in bus attack
February 19, 2025
Gunmen killed seven passengers aboard a bus traveling to Lahore in southwest Pakistan late on Tuesday, officials said.
The bus was attacked in Barkhan district in the southwestern part of Balochistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan and Iran.
The attackers burst the tyres of the bus on a highway close to the provincial border with Punjab, Saadat Hussain, a senior government official told AFP news agency.
The gunmen then demanded to see identification cards of those on board the bus.
"The passengers belonging to Punjab province... were taken off by the terrorists and killed. They were lined up and shot dead," Hussain said.
Rise in attacks on Punjabi workers
It is not clear who is responsible for the attack. Balochistan has been beset with separatist violence for decades.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is the most active group in the region. The group usually targets security forces as well as Pakistanis from other provinces.
Recently, attacks against laborers from Punjab have been on the rise. Last year, militant attacks targeting ethnic Punjabis killed at least 39 people.
The BLA has also targeted Chinese projects in the region, arguing that outsiders are exploiting the resource-rich Balochistan while the impoverished residents are left behind.
Edited by: Kieran Burke