23 killed in Pakistan after gunmen forces passenger out of vehicles and shoots them

Pakistan: As many as 23 people were killed after armed gunmen stopped a vehicle then forced the passenger to come out and started firing at them in the district of Musakhail in impoverished Balochistan province, according to Government officials. Before killing the 22 people, the gunmen, who were said to be operatives, first checked the ethnicity of the people. The attack took place in early Monday.

Currently, security forces are dealing with the sectarian, ethnic, and separist violence in the Balochistan province. The opearatives were reportedly conducting an inspection along the highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan when this happened.

“At least 22 people were killed and 5 injured when operatives stopped several busses, trucks and vans on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan,” Najibullah Kakar, a senior official in Musakhail.

The gunmen specially stopped vehicles traveling to and from Punjab were inspected, and shot people from Punjab.

In this incident, 19 Punjabis, whoc were mostly labourers and 3 Baloch were killed.

Hameed Zehri, another senior official in the district, confirmed that the BLA (Baloch Liberation Army) terrorists are behind the incident.

The Baloch Liberation Army is the most active operatives separatist group in the region.