PAKISTAN – 9 bus passengers were on Thursday night abducted from 2 Punjab-bound coaches by unknown, armed men in Pakistan’s Balochistan province and later killed according to local reports on Friday.

The incident occurred Thursday night in the Sur-Dakai area on the border between Balochistan’s Zhob and Loralai districts, Zhob Assistant Commissioner Naveed Alam told reporters.

Their bodies, with bullet wounds, were discovered in the mountains overnight.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi confirmed the incident and strongly condemned the killings.

“The blood of innocent people will be avenged. The killing of innocent citizens is an open act of terrorism by India-sponsored terrorists,” Sharif said.

There was no immediate reaction from India to his statement.

The Balochistan Liberation Front, a banned outfit, later claimed responsibility for the attack.

In February this year, terrorists stopped a passenger bus on its way from Quetta to Faisalabad in the Barkhan area of Balochistan and killed at least seven passengers.

In August last year, militants killed 23 passengers in Musakhel district of southwestern Balochistan after forcing them to disembark from several vehicles.

Pakistan has seen a surge in terrorist attacks in recent years, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

Mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but poorest province. Security forces have long faced a low-intensity rebellion from Baloch separatists, who claim the province has been denied major developments.

The province is also a key route for the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, which aims to connect China’s strategically important northwestern Xinjiang province with Balochistan’s Gwadar port via a network of roads, railways and pipelines for cargo, oil and gas transportation.