Violence in a restive province of Pakistan took a particularly grim turn Monday: Gunmen stopped vehicles on a highway in Baluchistan, checked the IDs of occupants, and killed at least 23 who had the misfortune of being from the wrong place, report the BBC and the AP. Most of the victims—taken from cars, trucks, and buses—were from Punjab in neighboring India. The Baluch Liberation Army, the most prominent group fighting to create an independent state in Baluchistan, claimed responsibility, per the AFP.
"They stopped 22 vehicles," says Najibullah Kakar. "Vehicles traveling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot." Separately, gunmen killed at least nine people—five civilians and four police officers—in an attack in Qalat, which is also in the province. The seemingly coordinated assaults follow the murders of seven barbers in May, all of whom were from Punjab.
- A primer: The AP has an explainer on what's happening in Baluchistan, which is Pakistan's largest but least populated province and where the ethnic Baluch minority claims discrimination by the central government. Baluchistan also is the nation's poorest province, "despite an abundance of untapped natural resources, and lags behind the rest of the country in education, employment, and economic development," per AFP.
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