Terror in Balochistan: At least 13 killed in Gwadar, Sohbat Pur attacks

• Gunmen offload, execute passengers in Gwadar's Kalmat area.
• Family members killed after house attacked, torched in Sohbat Pur.
• PM Shehbaz orders probe, provision of health facilities to injured.

QUETTA: Balochistan continues to reel under worsening law and order situation and violence as 13 people were killed in two separate attacks on bus passengers and a house in the province.

At least five passengers, according to Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Hamoodur Rehman, were killed when armed men offloaded and executed them after intercepting a Karachi-bound bus in Gwadar's Kalmat area.

Jiwani Station House Officer (SHO) Khalid Dashti has said the dead and the injured were rushed to Pasni Hospital.

With the death toll increasing to six after one of the injured succumbed to his injuries, the police have said that one of the deceased hailed from Multan.

Separately, seven people were killed in a house attack in a village in Sohbat Pur district after unknown individuals opened fire at a house and further set it ablaze.

The deceased, as per Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Yousaf Banghar, belong from the same family and include a woman and three children. The incident relates to a land dispute — between the victims and attackers — added the police officer.

Reacting to the unfortunate incident, President Asif Ali Zardari said: "The terrorists are the enemies of the country’s development and prosperity of Balochistan. They cannot see progress in Balochistan."

Condemning the Gwadar attack on passengers, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed sorrow and grief over the loss of lives and directed relevant authorities to probe the attack and bring those responsible to justice.

Noting that the cowardly actions of terrorists against innocent people reflected their brutality, the PM ordered the provision of the best possible medical facilities to those injured in the attack.

The Gwadar attack comes days after militants killed at least eight people— four labourers and four police personnel in Kalat and Noshki districts last week.

Recently, as at least five people, including three Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers, were martyred and 35 others wounded in an explosion on a paramilitary convoy on the Nushki-Dalbandin highway.

Before that, dozens of militants, affiliated with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), blew up a railway track and assaulted Jaffar Express, carrying more than 440 passengers — who were taken hostage.

The security forces, after a complex clearance operation, neutralised 33 attackers and rescued the hostage passengers.

Apart from five operational casualties, as many as 26 passengers were martyred by the terrorists, of which 18 were security personnel belonging to the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps (FC), three were officials from Pakistan Railways and other departments, and five were civilians.

Also, three FC personnel were martyred in the militants' attack targeting a picket before the train ambush.