Militants kill 20 abducted bus passengers in Mastung

QUETTA/MASTUNG: Around 25 passengers of two Karachi-bound buses were abducted by 15-20 unidentified armed men in Mastung on Friday night and later 20 of them were killed in the mountains, Balochistan Home Minster Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said.
He told media persons late on Friday night that armed men intercepted the Quetta-Karachi coaches and ordered passengers to alight from the buses. They searched the passengers and after identification took them towards a nearby mountain range.
The minister further said security forces had found the bodies of 20 passengers in the mountains. He said that five other passengers were recovered by security forces. He said law enforcement agencies were chasing the armed men and a security operation was underway.
Earlier, security forces were alerted by the passengers and coach drivers and they followed the armed men for recovering the victims. A Naib Tehsildar of the Levies Force said the kidnappers, seeing security forces, opened fire on the abducted persons, killing 20 of them but sparing the lives of four passengers.
Due to darkness and difficult terrain, the exact number of those killed could not be ascertained. Yaqoob, a passenger travelling in one of the coaches, told media persons that armed men sprayed a volley of bulletsmen sprayed a volley of bullets on passengers and some of them died on the spot.
Personnel of the law enforcement agencies, including Frontier Corps, Police and Levies Force, have launched an operation to trace out the whereabouts of the attackers.Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed deep concern over the incident. He sought a report on it. Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch strongly condemned the incident and directed the authorities concerned to ensure the immediate and safe recovery of the passengers.