Armed men belonging to the banned Baloch Liberation Army offloaded, identified and killed at least 12 people from passenger vehicles in Loralai on Thursday night. All of the victims belonged to Punjab.

The incident occurred in Mekhtar, on the Loralai-Dera Ghazi Khan road just before midnight on Thursday.

According to local sources, the passengers were offloaded after identification from three different passenger buses.

The terrorists had reportedly set up road blocks between Musakhel and Loralai.

Initial reports said that at least 10 passengers had been abducted by terrorists. The incident was also confirmed by Balochistan Government Spokesman Shahid Rind, who said an operation had been launched. However, reports soon emerged that the total.number of victims stood at 12 and all had been shot dead.

A defence analyst told Khabarkada that such incidents amount to ethnic persecution. The analyst added that the killings were a part of a larger pattern of killing Punjab-origin people or Punjab-bound travellers in Balochistan.

Several such incidents have taken place in Balochistan in recent years. In February this year, at least seven Punajb bound travellers were offloaded and killed in Barkhan.

In April 2024, nine Punjabis were killed after offloading in Noshki while two Punjabi laborers were shot dead in Kech.

In May of the same year, seven Punjabi barbers were killed near Gwadar while 23 passengers were shot dead in Musakhail.