Seven passengers offloaded, shot dead in Balochistan’s Barkhan district

At least seven people were killed in Balochistan’s Barkhan district after armed men offloaded them from a bus and shot at them after checking their identities.According to Assistant Commissioner Barkhan, Khadim Hussain Bhangar, the armed men blocked the road near Rahkan area of ​​Barkhan and stopped a bus going to Lahore from Quetta. The assailants offloaded passengers from the vehicle and shot dead seven of them after checking their identity documents.According to sources, those who were killed in the gruesome attack were reportedly from Punjab.Deputy Commissioner Barkhan Waqar Khursheed and Assistant Commissioner Khadim Hussain Bhangar reached the spot along with heavy contingent of police.Meanwhile, the district administration has stopped traffic at Chhapar and Kangri areas of the district to avoid any untoward incident. AC Barkhan said that emergency was declared in Rakni Hospital.In a similar incident in August last year, 23 passengers were killed after being forcibly offloaded from their vehicles by armed assailants in Balochistan’s Musakhel district.According to Musakhel SP Ayub Achakzai, the attack occurred at a checkpoint set up by the armed men on the inter-provincial highway near Rarah Sham area of ​​Khangri, about two kilometers from Dera Ghazi Road.The assailants forced passengers off trucks and buses and shot them after identifying them. The attackers also set fire to 10 vehicles before fleeing the scene.Police and levies forces arrived promptly and transported the bodies to a hospital.Most of the deceased were reported to be from Punjab.