Asif Kareem Khetran, News Desk:
The bodies of nine passengers, who were abducted and killed in Balochistan’s Sardhaka area, were recovered on Friday morning and sent to their native towns in Punjab, according to local officials.
Assistant Commissioner Naveed Alam stated that late Thursday night, unidentified armed men intercepted two passenger coaches bound for Punjab and forcibly took at least nine people with them in the Sur-Dakai area. Sur-Dakai is located along the border of Balochistan’s Zhob and Loralai districts.
Provincial government spokesperson Shahid Rind confirmed the incident, saying that elements linked to “Fitna-al-Hindustan”—a term the provincial government uses for militant groups operating in Balochistan—were behind attacks at three different locations: Kakat, Mastung, and Sur-Dakai.
The banned organisation Balochistan Liberation Front later claimed responsibility for the killings. A representative of the group stated that their members had blocked the highway between Musakhail-Makhtar and Khajuri and killed the nine abducted passengers.
In response to the tragic event, President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti issued strong condemnations of the brutal killings. They stressed that those involved in these heinous crimes would be tracked down and punished according to the law.
Following the attack, security measures have been intensified across all highways connecting Balochistan with other parts of the country. Authorities have ordered strict vehicle checks on routes linking Balochistan to Punjab and other provinces to prevent any further incidents.
