Organised pattern apparent in Hazarganji, Peshawar and Makran incidents: Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Fawad Chauhdry on Thursday said there appears to be an "organised pattern" in the attack on members of Hazara community, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Hayatabad and today's shooting on passengers of a bus on Makran Coastal Highway.

Taking to Twitter, the information minister said, "Attack on Hazaras, TTP in Hayatabad and then today's brutal incident on coastal highway — there appears to be an organised pattern."

"We have sacrificed a lot for peace. God willing, we will make those responsible for these incidents an example," he added.

Chaudhry said, "We have achieved major successes in the war against terror but the war is not yet over."

Earlier today, at least 14 passengers were offloaded from a passenger bus on Makran Coastal Highway and shot dead by unidentified gunmen. The armed men stopped the bus and offloaded some of the passengers after asking for their identities, Levies sources said. "After scanning their identities and offloading, the gunmen shot dead 14 passengers," the sources said.

On Wednesday, police sources said five terrorists killed in an anti-terrorism operation in Peshawar's Hayatabad area on Tuesday belonged to the TTP. The operation, which concluded after a 17-hour standoff with five terrorists killed and a policeman martyred, was conducted on an intelligence tip-off, police sources added.

Further, twenty people, including eight Hazara, were killed and 48 others injured in a suicide blast in Quetta's Hazarganji sabzi mandi last week.