Gunmen kill over 20 people in Pakistan’s Balochistan

Gunmen have fatally shot 23 passengers after identifying them and taking them from buses, vehicles and trucks in one of the deadliest attacks in southwestern Pakistan, police and officials said.

The killings occurred overnight in Musakhail, a district in Balochistan province, senior police official Ayub Achakzai said on Monday.

The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing the scene.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in separate statements on Monday called the attack “barbaric” and vowed that those who were behind it would not escape justice.

The attack came hours after the outlawed Baloch insurgent group warned people to stay away from the highways, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

In the past, the Baloch insurgent groups have often killed workers and others from the country's eastern Punjab region as part of a campaign to force them to leave the province.

Most such previous killings have been blamed on the outlawed group and other terrorist groups also have a presence in the province.