QUETTA, Pakistan — Officials reported that gunmen killed 11 people in two separate incidents in Balochistan, a volatile province in southwestern Pakistan that borders Afghanistan and Iran.
In the first attack, gunmen abducted nine men from a bus and subsequently killed them, officials said Saturday.
The attack occurred Friday night, and no group has claimed responsibility.
The men, all from Punjab province, were traveling to Taftan in Iran when several gunmen intercepted their bus in Noshki district, according to police officer Abdullah Mengal.
“They were shot at close range,” Mengal stated. The district deputy commissioner, Habibullah Musakhail, noted that the bullet-ridden bodies were discovered beneath a bridge about an hour and a half later.
In a related incident on Saturday, two individuals were killed in Balochistan under similar circumstances.
Separatist ethnic Baloch militant groups, which have been fighting the Pakistani state for decades over regional resources, frequently target individuals from other provinces.
These groups claim that the state denies them a fair share of the region’s wealth, particularly from the mineral-rich areas that include the deep-water port of Gwadar, being developed by China.
China has invested heavily in regional projects, including the Gwadar port as part of its $65 billion commitment under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
