Quetta (Staff Report/Agencies): At least 14 people, including Pakistan Navy personnel, were forcibly offloaded from a passenger bus on the Makran Coastal Highway in Balochistan's Ormara area and shot dead by unidentified gunmen early on Thursday.
According to police authorities, the passenger bus, travelling between Karachi and Gwadar, was stopped by around 25 unidentified attackers in the Buzi pass area near Hangol after midnight.
The attackers in Frontier Corps Uniforms, offloaded the victims from the bus, forced them to reveal their computerised national identity cards (CNICs) for their identification, tied their hands and shot them dead.
Balochistan’s home minister Mir Zia Langov stated that a full-scale investigation had been launched into the attack and to track down the gunmen, who he said had fled the scene.
The dead bodies were shifted to a nearby health facility in Ormara.
Pakistan Navy personnel were among the martyred in the attack on Makran Coastal Highway, a Pakistan Navy spokesperson said.
In a statement, President Dr Arif Alvi condemned the incident and expressed deep grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives.
He said such attempts to spread mischief in the country cannot succeed.
Prime Minister Imran Khan strongly condemned the killings and sought a report on the incident.
PM Khan, expressing his sympathies with the families of the victims, directed the concerned authorities to make every possible effort to identify and bring the perpetrators of the barbaric act to justice.
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal also strongly condemned the incident and said, "Terrorists are killing innocent people on the agenda of anti-state elements."
"It is a conspiracy to create hurdles in the development of Balochistan," CM Jam Kamal added.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also condemned the incident and tweeted that those involved in recent terror attacks in the country will be brought to justice.
He said the attack on Hazara community in Quetta, Hayatabad and now the despicable incident on Coastal Highway all indicate towards an organized pattern of crime.
The information minister said that Pakistan has rendered immense sacrifices and registered major successes in the war on terror. However, the war is not over yet.
This is pertinent to mention here that the attack came less than a week after 21 people, including eight Hazara, were killed and 48 others were wounded in a suicide blast in Quetta's Hazarganji sabzi mandi.