Gunmen ambushed a passenger bus in southwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing 14 people. A local official said it was unclear who was behind the shooting.
The men reportedly entered the bus, demanded to see everyone’s IDs, and then commenced their attack on specific passengers. It remains unknown what ethnicity or denomination the assailants were marking.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the killings. Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack in restive Baluchistan province, calling it “an act of terror.”
The area has had sporadic unrest from Baluchi separatists, who are known to target the security services and people from Punjab, as they tend to make up the bulk of soldiers stationed in Baluchistan.
The separatists claim that the government does not evenly distribute the region’s resources. There are also Islamist extremists active in the area, who have launched attacks on minority Shiite Muslims in the past.
The attack took place as the bus was traveling on the Makran coastal highway between the port city of Karachi and the Gwadar port in the southwest.
