Barkhan, Pakistan, February 17, 2025 – Unknown armed assailants killed seven passengers on a Lahore-bound bus in Barkhan district, Balochistan province, officials reported Tuesday.

The attack unfolded along a highway connecting Barkhan to Dera Ghaza Khan in Punjab, an area that has long been embroiled in conflict as separatist insurgents vie for greater autonomy and control over the region’s natural resources.

According to deputy commissioner Waqar Khurshid Alam, a group of approximately 40 armed men halted multiple buses and vehicles, checking national identity cards before forcing seven passengers off one of the buses and shooting them. Alam confirmed that all of the victims hailed from central Punjab.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the incident, and authorities remain uncertain about the motive behind the attack. The area was cordoned off after the killings, though the attackers had already fled the scene.

This incident adds to a series of recent violent events in the region. On Friday, a bomb targeting a vehicle carrying coal miners killed at least 11 people and wounded six others. In August last year, separatist militants carried out a series of coordinated attacks that left dozens dead, including a roadside assault where militants checked IDs before opening fire—a strike for which the Baloch Liberation Army, the largest among several ethnic armed groups in the province, later took responsibility.

Authorities continue to investigate the attack as part of ongoing efforts to address the persistent security challenges in Balochistan—a province that has also seen insurgent activities targeting Chinese nationals and interests amid the development of the deep-water Gwadar seaport.

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