Authorities in Pakistan reported late on Tuesday that "terrorists" intercepted a bus on a main highway in the southwestern Balochistan province and killed at least seven passengers.
The victims were traveling from the provincial capital of Quetta to the central province of Punjab when their bus was ambushed in the Barkhan district. Area police and survivors said that the attackers fatally shot seven passengers after confirming their ethnic Punjabi identity.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the massacre, but suspicions fell on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA. The separatist group frequently conducts deadly attacks on security forces and civilians from other regions of Pakistan working in resources-rich Balochistan.
Sarfaraz Bugti, the provincial chief minister, condemned the killing of bus passengers as a "cowardly act." He wrote on the X social media platform that Pakistani paramilitary forces and police "are actively pursuing the terrorists to bring them to justice."
The attack prompted authorities in Balochistan to order other passenger vehicles to temporarily stop their journeys.
The violence came just hours after Pakistan's military reported that it killed 30 Islamist insurgents during clashes in a volatile northwestern district bordering Afghanistan.
A military statement attributed the casualties to an overnight “intelligence-based” operation against a militant location in the tribal district of South Waziristan. The slain people were referred to as “khwarij,” a local term employed by the government to identify members of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, militant group.
The TTP has not commented on the reported clashes, and it is not possible to verify government claims through independent sources in the violence-hit district.
The Waziristan region and nearby districts along the Afghan border face almost daily militant raids targeting Pakistani troops, police officers and various government entities, with the TTP claiming responsibility for most of it.
The violence has killed dozens of Pakistani security personnel within the first two months of 2025 alone. Military officials claim that retaliatory counterinsurgency operations have killed scores of TTP operatives, including key militant commanders, in recent days.
Islamabad alleges that the TTP, listed as a global terrorist organization by the United Nations, uses havens and training camps in Afghanistan to carry out cross-border terrorist attacks. The Taliban government in Kabul, which is not recognized by any country, rejects Pakistani allegations.
The latest report by the U.N. Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, released last week, highlighted Pakistan's concerns, stating that the TTP has "significantly increased” its attacks in the country and from Afghan territory.
The report noted that Kabul “continued to provide the TTP with logistical and operational space and financial support.” It added that the militant group "established new training centers" in the Afghan provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, Khost and Paktika, "while enhancing recruitment within TTP cadres, including from the Afghan Taliban.”
The Taliban government dismissed the U.N. findings as “inaccurate” and contrary to reality.
