Latest news with #SaadatHussain
Time of India
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Pakistan bus attack: Baloch rebel check IDs, kill 9; ‘terrorists took documents,' official says
Nine people were shot dead by rebels in Pakistan's Balochistan province late Thursday after they were pulled off passenger buses. The victims were targeted based on their identity cards showing Punjab origins, as per reports. According to Dawn, two buses travelling from Quetta to Punjab were intercepted near Sur-Dakai along the Loralai-Zhob highway. Armed men reportedly blocked the road, boarded the vehicles, and began checking passengers' CNICs. Those identified as residents of Punjab were taken off at gunpoint and later killed. 'The terrorists forced the two passenger buses to stop on a highway and pulled nine passengers out. They took them in an area nearby and killed all of them,' said local official Naveed Alam, speaking to AFP. District administrator Saadat Hussain confirmed that the bodies were later recovered from the roadside. 'The forces found the dead bodies all belong to different areas of Punjab,' he told AFP. 'The terrorists must have taken the passengers' identification documents with them,' AC Alam told Dawn. While no group initially claimed responsibility, the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLA) later took credit. The group has waged a long-running insurgency against the Pakistani state, frequently targeting non-Baloch civilians and military personnel. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Beachfront Living in Mumbai at Sunteck Beach Residences Sunteck Realty Learn More Undo The Baloch insurgency, which seeks independence from Islamabad, has intensified in recent years despite claims by Pakistani authorities that it is under control. President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the killings, blaming 'terrorists from the outlawed BLA' for seeking to destabilise the country. The killings echo a similar attack last year in which 23 passengers were killed. Human rights groups and separatists have accused Pakistan's security forces of brutal counter-insurgency tactics, including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Al-Ahram Weekly
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Pakistani separatists kill 9 bus passengers: Govt - International
Militants abducted and shot dead at least nine bus passengers travelling through Pakistan's restive southwestern Balochistan province, government officials said Friday. Security forces are battling a rise in ethnic and separatist violence in impoverished but mineral-rich Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. The militants boarded two buses on a major highway and checked passengers' identity cards before forcing nine people off the vehicles at gunpoint overnight on Thursday. "The terrorists forced the two passenger buses to stop on a highway and pulled nine passengers out. They took them in an area nearby and killed all of them," local government official Naveed Alam told AFP. The attackers specifically targeted people from Punjab, the country's most populous and prosperous province and a major recruitment base for the military. "The forces found the dead bodies all belong to different areas of Punjab," said Saadat Hussain, another senior government official. The Balochistan Liberation Front (BLA), a separatist group fighting the state, later claimed responsibility for the attack. The BLA has emerged as the biggest threat targeting foreign interests, security forces and Pakistanis from outside the province. Baloch separatists and rights groups say the military's heavy-handed counter-terrorism response to the insurgency has included widespread enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Balochistan is rich in hydrocarbons and minerals, but 70 percent of its 15 million inhabitants live below the poverty line. In March, the militant group was behind a deadly train siege with more than 450 passengers on board. Last year was the deadliest in a decade for Pakistan, with a surge in attacks that killed more than 1,600 people, according to Islamabad-based analysis group the Center for Research and Security Studies. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
New Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
At least nine bus passengers abducted, shot dead by militants in Pakistan
QUETTA: Militants abducted and shot dead at least nine bus passengers travelling through Pakistan's restive southwestern Balochistan province, government officials said Friday. Security forces are battling a rise in ethnic and separatist violence in impoverished but mineral-rich Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. The militants boarded two buses on a major highway and checked passengers' identity cards before forcing nine people off the vehicles at gunpoint overnight on Thursday. "The terrorists forced the two passenger buses to stop on a highway and pulled nine passengers out. They took them in an area nearby and killed all of them," local government official Naveed Alam told AFP. The attackers specifically targeted people from Punjab, the country's most populous and prosperous province and a major recruitment base for the military. "The forces found the dead bodies all belong to different areas of Punjab," said Saadat Hussain, another senior government official. The Balochistan Liberation Front (BLA), a separatist group fighting the state, later claimed responsibility for the attack. The BLA has emerged as the biggest threat targeting foreign interests, security forces and Pakistanis from outside the province. Baloch separatists and rights groups say the military's heavy-handed counter-terrorism response to the insurgency has included widespread enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Balochistan is rich in hydrocarbons and minerals, but 70 percent of its 15 million inhabitants live below the poverty line. In March, the militant group was behind a deadly train siege with more than 450 passengers on board. Last year was the deadliest in a decade for Pakistan, with a surge in attacks that killed more than 1,600 people, according to Islamabad-based analysis group the Center for Research and Security Studies.
Express Tribune
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Terrorists slaughter nine passengers
Listen to article Terrorists belonging to the Fitna al-Hindustan on Thursday killed at least nine passengers after abducting them from buses in the Loralai district of Balochistan, a district administration official and the provincial government spokesperson said. Loralai commissioner Saadat Hussain told a private news channel that the terrorists took out the passengers from the buses near the Sardhaka area of the district and shot them dead after checking their identity cards. Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind said that the terrorists, who carried out this gruesome attack belonged to the "Fitna-al-Hindustan". The term refers to India-funded terrorist organisations operating in Balochistan. "Brutal action by terrorists of Fitna al-Hindustan in Sardhaka area of Balochistan. Terrorists killed nine innocent Pakistanis after taking them out of the buses," Rind said in a statement. "The brutal killing of innocent citizens by Fitna-al-Hindustan is barbaric." Rind and district administration officials said that the security forces responded immediately to the incident and rushed to the scene. "The terrorists escaped in the dark of the night but the forces are pursuing them," Rind said. Rind said that the law enforcement agencies remained on high alert to safeguard the lives, property, and belongings of the public. "This is an attack on the peace and unity of Pakistan. We will foil the enemy's plot. The enemy's evil intentions and their hostile activities will be crushed," he added.
Khaleej Times
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Gunmen identify, kill 7 Punjabi travellers in Pakistan: Official
Gunmen in volatile southwest Pakistan shot seven bus passengers dead after identifying them as being from another region, a government official said on Wednesday. Attackers late on Tuesday burst the tyres of a bus that was travelling on a highway through Balochistan, close to the provincial border with Punjab, said Saadat Hussain, a senior government official in the area. Gunmen boarded the bus and demanded to see the identity cards of passengers, after which Punjabis were taken off the bus. "The passengers belonging to Punjab province... were taken off by the terrorists and killed," Hussain told AFP. "Later they were lined up and shot dead." No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said: 'Those who harm innocent and defenceless people will have to pay a very heavy price.' The prime minister reaffirmed the commitment to completely eliminate terrorism from the country, Radio Pakistan reported. Expressing grief over the killing of the bus passengers, he conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls. Security forces have been battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence for decades in the impoverished but mineral-rich Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
