Karachi: Nine passengers travelling from Quetta to Lahore were shot dead by armed insurgents in Pakistan’s volatile Balochistan province on Friday, in what authorities believe was an ethnically motivated attack.

According to Assistant Commissioner of Zhob, Naveed Alam, the assailants intercepted a passenger bus on the national highway in the Zhob area. After stopping the vehicle, the attackers checked the identity cards of those on board, forcibly removed nine passengers, and executed them at the scene.

“All nine belonged to different parts of the Punjab province,” Alam said. “We have moved the nine bodies to the hospital for post-mortem and burial procedures.”

Though no group has claimed responsibility so far, similar attacks in the region have previously been attributed to ethnic Baloch insurgent groups, which have targeted Punjabi civilians and passenger vehicles. Friday’s attack marks the latest in a series of assaults on non-local residents in the province.

The killings come amid a broader wave of unrest across Balochistan. Insurgents reportedly launched three other attacks overnight in Quetta, Loralai and Mastung, though Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind said security forces repelled them successfully. “There were no reports of casualties in any of them,” he confirmed.

Unverified reports from local media indicated that armed militants struck at several locations during the night, attacking checkposts, police stations, banks, communication towers, and other government installations, in what appeared to be a coordinated offensive.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has long been plagued by a separatist insurgency. Ethnic Baloch groups frequently target security personnel, state infrastructure, and development projects, including those tied to the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), in what they claim is a struggle for greater autonomy and control over the region’s resources.

The province has witnessed similar bloodshed in recent months. In March, five labourers working on long body trailers were gunned down near Gwadar port. A month earlier, insurgents killed seven passengers from Punjab after pulling them off a bus in the Barkhan area.

(With inputs from PTI)