At least 23 individuals lost their lives and five others were wounded in a militant assault in south-western Pakistan, according to the country's interior minister on Monday.
The incident occurred early Monday in the Musakhail district of impoverished Balochistan province, where security forces are combating sectarian, ethnic, and separatist conflicts.
Militants halted several buses, trucks, and vans on a highway linking Punjab with Balochistan, as stated by Najibullah Kakar, a senior official in Musakhail, to AFP.
Vehicles moving to and from Punjab were searched, and individuals from Punjab were singled out and shot, he added.
He reported that 19 Punjabis and 3 Baloch were killed, predominantly Punjabi laborers. Hameed Zehri, another senior official in the district, verified the death toll to AFP.
It appears that the BLA (Baloch Liberation Army) terrorists are responsible for the incident, he said. The Baloch Liberation Army is the most active militant separatist group in the region.
Balochistan, Pakistan's largest yet poorest province, is rich in untapped natural resources.
