“A joint investigation team headed by SSP Mansehra Ilyas Khan has started probing the incident and the first information report was registered against the unknown assailants at the Kaghan Police Station,” District Police Officer (DPO) Sher Akbar told reporters here.

He said a search operation was also launched in the area to apprehend the perpetrators.

Gunmen killed 19 Gilgit-Baltistan-bound passengers after establishing their identity as Shias through their national identity cards on the Babusar Pass mountains in Mansehra district early Thursday.

The Darra Adamkhel chapter of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) through its spokesman, Mohammad, had claimed responsibility for the attack on the three buses carrying passengers to Gilgit-Baltistan. He had claimed that 25 Shia passengers were killed in the attack.

Meanwhile, the Northern Areas Transport Company (Natco) has suspended service between Rawalpindi and Gilgit-Baltistan. “Though we are using the Karakoram Highway, we have decided to suspend the service after the Babusar Pass attack,” said an official of the Natco, which plies buses between Rawalpindi and Gilgit-Baltistan.

“We are monitoring the situation after the Babusar Pass terrorist attack and will resume the service if the situation returns to normalcy,” he maintained.

The traffic between Naran-Jalkhad section of Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road also remained suspended throughout Friday.

Meanwhile, policemen were deployed outside mosques due to security concerns during the Jumatul Wida congregations in Mansehra, Balakot and Oghi tehsils to foil any sabotage act.