In a brazen act of ethnic violence, terrorists affiliated with the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) abducted 10 passengers on the National Highway N-70, between Loralai and Musakhel districts. The victims, all believed to be of Punjabi origin, were forcibly taken after BLA armed militants blocked the road and checked passengers’ identity cards.
According to eyewitness accounts from bus drivers, two passenger buses traveling the route encountered a makeshift roadblock manned by BLA terrorists. The assailants had used vehicles to barricade the road. Upon stopping the buses, the gunmen boarded, checked ID cards, and selectively offloaded passengers.
“Two men were taken from our bus,” said a driver traveling from Quetta to Lahore. “They checked IDs and forced them off at gunpoint.” A similar account was given by the driver of a second bus, who reported that seven passengers were abducted in the same manner. One additional individual is also believed to have been taken, bringing the total number of abductees to ten.
Security officials have launched a search operation in the surrounding areas, though the abductees’ whereabouts remain unknown.
Read More: https://balochistanpulse.com/death-toll-reaches-10/
Pattern of Ethnic Targeting and Hate Crimes
This latest incident is part of a disturbing trend of ethnically motivated attacks carried out by the BLA in Balochistan. Over the past year, the group has repeatedly targeted passengers traveling between Punjab and Balochistan.
- April 12, 2024: Militants halted a bus on the Quetta–Taftan highway near Noshki. Nine Punjabi passengers were abducted and later found dead, their bullet-riddled bodies dumped beneath a bridge.
- August 26, 2024: In one of the deadliest attacks, 23 passengers—mostly Punjabi laborers—were executed after being forcibly removed from buses in the Rarasham area of Musakhel. Militants torched several vehicles during the ambush. The BLA claimed responsibility, citing the attack as part of their so-called “Operation Hero.”
- March 26–27, 2025: A Karachi-bound passenger bus was stopped near Kalmat, between Ormara and Gwadar. Six individuals, identified as non-Baloch, were executed after being offloaded at gunpoint.
In an exclusive interview with an international news outlet yesterday, Director General of ISPR, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said that India is orchestrating unrest in Balochistan by supporting militant groups.
“India’s involvement in funding, training, and providing media cover to terrorist organizations like the BLA is part of a broader conspiracy to destabilize Pakistan,” the DG ISPR stated.
He reaffirmed the military’s commitment to restoring peace in Balochistan and protecting citizens from ethnic violence and terrorism.