Gunmen kill 23 people taken from vehicles in Pakistan

Gunmen have shot dead 23 people after identifying them and taking them from buses, vehicles and trucks in one of the deadliest attacks in southwestern Pakistan, officials say.

The killings occurred overnight in Kusakhail, a district in Baluchistan province, a senior police official Ayub Achakzai.

The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing the scene.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the attack “barbaric” and vowed that those who were behind it would not escape justice.

The attack came hours after the outlawed Baluch Liberation Army separatist group warned people to stay away from the highways, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The separatists in Baluchistan have often killed workers and others from the country’s eastern Punjab region as part of a campaign to force them to leave the province, which for years has experienced a low-level insurgency.

Most such previous killings have been blamed on the outlawed Baluchistan Liberation Army and other groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Islamic militants also have a presence in the province.