Pakistan: Gunmen kill 23 after forcing them out of vehicles in Balochistan

Pakistan attack: At least 23 people were killed after they were forced out of their vehicles and shot by Gunmen in southwest Pakistan on Monday, PTI reported.

According to AFP, the militants stopped several buses, trucks and vans and shot people after checking their ethnicity in the district of Musakhail in Balochistan province. Five people were injured.

"At least 22 people were killed and five injured when militants stopped several busses, trucks and vans on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan," Najibullah Kakar, a senior official in Musakhail, told AFP.

"Vehicles travelling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot," he added.

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Assistant Commissioner Musakhail Najeeb Kakar said that armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway in the Rarasham district of Musakhel and offloaded passengers, reported Dawn. They also set 10 vehicles on fire.

He added that the people have reached the spot and shifted the bodies to a hospital.

Hameed Zehri, another senior official in the district, confirmed the toll to AFP.

"It seems that the BLA (Baloch Liberation Army) terrorists are behind the incident," he said. The BLA is the most active militant separatist group in the region.

Balochistan chief minister Sarfaraz Bugti condemned the incident and offered condolences to the families of those killed. He also said that the Balochistan government will pursue the terrorists and they will not be able to escape an exemplary end, according to Dawn.

According to Associated Press, the outlawed Baluch Liberation Army had warned people to stay away from the highways. However, no immediate claim of responsibility behind the attack has been taken so far.

The separatists in Baluchistan have often killed workers and others from the country's eastern Punjab region as part of a campaign to force them to leave the province.