Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday reaffirmed the government’s pledge to eradicate terrorism after seven Punjab-bound passengers were offloaded from a bus and shot dead in Barkhan district last night.

Pakistan has recently witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in KP and Balochistan. Terror attacks have increased since the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022.

The premier’s remarks follow last night’s incident when armed men “offloaded seven passengers from a coach after checking their identity cards and killed them”, according to Barkhan Deputy Commissioner (DC) Waqar Khurshid Alam.

In a statement today, PM Shehbaz asserted, “Those who harm innocent and defenceless people will have to pay a very heavy price.”

The prime minister reaffirmed the commitment to completely eliminate terrorism from the country, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

Expressing grief over the killing of the bus passengers, he conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls.

PM Shehbaz directed that the perpetrators be brought to justice at the earliest, the report added. “The sacrifices of innocent civilians will never go in vain.”

DC Alam had said, “All seven who were travelling in the coach belonged to Punjab, and were on their way to Lahore.”

After disembarking them from the coach, the gunmen opened fire, killing them on the spot, he said, adding that the attackers managed to escape.

The Barkhan DC also said security forces had cordoned off the area after the incident. The bodies of the seven slain men were later shifted to the district headquarters hospital.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Safaraz Bugti also vowed the government’s “concrete response” to terrorism and condemned the “brutal killing of seven innocent passengers”.

“The cowardly attack by enemies of peace is intolerable and a concrete response will be given,” CM Bugti vowed.

Noting that terrorists were “targeting innocent and defenceless people”, he said: “We will service justice to terrorists who have martyred Pakistanis.”

In a separate statement, Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind said security forces, including Frontier Corps and levies personnel, had reached the site of the incident.

“The security forces have continued their hunt of the terrorists,” Rind said.

A group of around 40 armed men had stopped several buses and other vehicles near Rakhani on the Barkhan-Dera Ghazi Khan Highway, officials said.

Assistant Commissioner Khadim Hussain was also quoted by Reuters as confirming that the killings took place on the highway connecting Barkhan to the Dera Ghazi Khan.

Attackers burst the tyres of the bus, Saadat Hussain, a senior government official in the area, told AFP. Gunmen boarded the bus and demanded to see the identity cards of the passengers, he said.

“The passengers belonging to Punjab province… were taken off by the terrorists and killed,” Hussain said. “They were lined up and shot dead,” AFP quoted Saadat as saying.

The incident comes days after 12 were killed in a blast targeting a bus carrying coal miners in Harnai.

Balochistan has witnessed a spate of attacks targeting those hailing from Punjab. In two separate incidents in April 2024, nine people were killed after being forced off a bus near Noshki, while two labourers from Punjab were shot in Kech.

In May last year, seven barbers from Punjab were shot dead near Gwadar, while August saw 23 travellers offloaded from trucks and buses and shot in the Musakhail district.

The Musakhail incident was part of a flare-up of violence, where dozens of militants affiliated with the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) — a separatist outfit — launched numerous attacks across Balochistan, targeting security personnel as well as civilians.

With additional input from AFP and Reuters.