KALAT
\nAt least three people were killed and seven others sustained injuries after unidentified assailants opened gunfire on a passenger coach travelling from Karachi to Quetta near a checkpost in Balochistan\u2019s Kalat, police said on Wednesday.
\nThis is the second such attack in less than a week in the restive province, which has witnessed a deadly year with scores of fatalities due to terrorist attacks.
\nThe attack occurred when the bus approached Nemargh Cross near Kalat district. The assailants, who were waiting on top of nearby mountains, first opened fire and then hurled hand grenades at the vehicle.
\nThe vehicles that run on this route carry approximately 40 to 50 passengers. However, the exact number of passengers on board the targeted bus remains unknown.
\nSpeaking to Geo News, Balochistan government spokesperson, Shahid Rind noted that security agencies, district authorities, and rescue teams reached the scene immediately. The wounded were transferred to the Qalat DHQ Hospital, where an emergency has been declared.
\nSecurity forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to pursue the assailants, Rind said, adding that the attackers are still at large. \u201cInitial reports suggest that the attackers were waiting to strike. They closed the street from both sides,\u201d he added.
\nMeanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has strongly condemned the terrorist incident, which he said was carried out by the Fitna al Hindustan \u2014 a term used for terrorist organisations in Balochistan.
\nHe offered prayers for the martyrs and extended his sympathies to the bereaved families, praying for patience and resilience during their difficult time.
\nThe PM also directed authorities to provide immediate medical assistance to the injured.
\nHe warned that terrorists targeting innocent, unarmed civilians would be made to pay a heavy price, vowing that perpetrators would not escape justice.
\nReiterating the government\u2019s stance, the prime minister affirmed that both his administration and the country\u2019s security forces were committed to eradicating terrorism from the nation.
\nThe attack came days after at least nine passengers travelling on two Punjab-bound coaches were abducted and killed by unidentified armed men in Sur-Dakai area, on the border between Balochistan\u2019s Zhob and Loralai districts.
\nAssistant Commissioner Zhob, Naveed Alam, said the attackers opened fire on the abducted passengers after taking them away from the vehicles, adding that the bodies were being transported to Rakhni for dispatch to their native towns in Punjab.
\nRind had said that Fitna al Hindustan had carried out the attacks.
\nBalochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti had declared that the killers of innocent civilians were not worthy of any mercy. \u201cThose who murder innocent people will be hunted to the last man,\u201d the chief minister said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KALAT At least three people were killed and seven others sustained injuries after unidentified assailants opened gunfire on a passenger coach travelling from Karachi to Quetta near a checkpost in Balochistan\u2019s Kalat, police said on Wednesday. This is the second such attack in less than a week in the restive province, which has witnessed a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":83847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83855,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83840\/revisions\/83855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}