Latest news with #DeraGhaziKhan
CTV News
11-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Gunmen abduct and kill 9 passengers from 2 buses on a southwestern Pakistan highway
In this photo provided by Pakistan's Rescue 1122 Emergency Department, a casket containing the body of a passenger, killed during bus attacks by gunmen in southwestern Pakistan is unloaded by rescue workers and volunteers from an ambulance upon arrival in Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Rescue 1122 Emergency Department via AP) Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan abducted and killed nine people after stopping two passenger buses on a highway Thursday night, officials said. The overnight attacks occurred in the Zhob and Loralai districts of Balochistan province as the buses traveled from the provincial capital, Quetta, to Punjab province, district administrator Saadat Husain said Friday. The attackers fled the scene and a search is underway to track down the assailants. Authorities recovered the bodies along the highway, Husain said. Ashfaq Chaudhry, an administrator in Punjab's Dera Ghazi Khan district, said the attackers appeared to target passengers from Punjab specifically. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction and killings of the bus passengers. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari issued a statement condemning the 'brutal killing of passengers' in Balochistan. He blamed the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army for the deaths and said the group wanted to 'spread chaos and instability in Pakistan.' The BLA killed 23 passengers in Balochistan in a similar attack last year. However, the militant group issued a statement saying on Thursday night it was engaged in an attack on a military camp in Balochistan's Surab district, far away from the areas of the bus attacks. Baluchistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency in southwestern Pakistan with an array of separatist groups, including the BLA, demanding independence from Pakistan's central government in Islamabad. The groups have staged attacks mainly targeting security forces and people from Punjab who travel to Balochistan for business or employment. Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence in the province has persisted. The Pakistani government has routinely blamed India for backing the Pakistani Taliban and Baloch insurgents in Pakistan. The Associated Press
Arab News
01-06-2025
- General
- Arab News
Pakistan police say four militants killed in operation in Punjab's Dera Ghazi Khan
ISLAMABAD: Police killed four militants in a successful operation in Dera Ghazi Khan district of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, Pakistani state media reported on Sunday. The Dera Ghazi Khan, or DG Khan, district borders the southwestern Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) where Pakistan has been battling twin insurgencies. The operation was conducted in DG Khan's Kot Mubarak area and the law enforcers recovered a sizeable cache of heavy weapons and ammunition from the site of the encounter. 'The swift and effective action of the police teams thwarted the terrorists' nefarious plans,' the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported, citing officials. 'Inspector General of Punjab Police Dr. Usman Anwar commended the efforts of the Dera Ghazi Khan Police and said the Punjab police stand as a strong barrier against anti-state elements.' Pakistan is currently battling twin insurgencies: one led by religiously motivated groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), mainly in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and the other by ethno-nationalist Baloch separatist groups in Balochistan. Militants often seek refuge in border areas of neighboring provinces amid intensifying counter-insurgency operations in KP and Balochistan. The operation in DG Khan was launched on intelligence reports about militant movement near the Punjab-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border, the APP news agency reported, citing a police spokesman. 'Some suspects fled using cover from bushes and mounds,' it said. 'A search-and-sweep operation is ongoing to track them down.'
