Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan — July 11: In a tragic act of violence, nine passengers were shot dead after being forcibly removed from a passenger bus in southwestern Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Friday.
According to local authorities, the incident occurred in the Soob area along the national highway as a bus was en route from Quetta to Lahore. Armed assailants reportedly intercepted the vehicle, ordered passengers to disembark, and examined their identity documents. Nine individuals were singled out and subsequently executed at point-blank range.
Assistant Commissioner Soob, Naveed Alam, confirmed that the victims were residents of various districts in Punjab province. Their bodies were transported to a local medical facility for autopsies before being released to their families for burial rites.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but security officials suspect Baloch separatist militants, who have a history of targeting non-Baloch individuals—particularly those from Punjab—as part of their ongoing insurgency. The region has long been marred by violent clashes between separatist groups and state security forces.
The Soob attack follows a string of similar incidents in Balochistan. In March 2025, five workers were shot dead by suspected militants near Kalmat, close to Gwadar Port. In February, seven Punjabi passengers were executed in the Barkhan area under similar circumstances.
Additional reports indicate heightened militant activity in other districts, including Quetta, Loralai, and Mastung, exacerbating concerns about deteriorating law and order in the province.
An official investigation has been launched, though no arrests have yet been made. Security has been tightened in the region, and authorities have vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The ongoing targeting of civilians—especially inter-provincial travelers—underscores the persistent security and ethnic tensions within Balochistan, a province that borders both Afghanistan and Iran and has been at the epicenter of Pakistan’s internal conflict for decades.
