Probe under way after massacre in Barkhan

Security forces launched an extensive investigation to trace and apprehend the gunmen, who ambushed a bus travelling on the Barkhan-Dera Ghazi Khan Highway in Balochistan on Tuesday night and shot dead seven people.

According to local authorities, the attackers, estimated to be a group of about 40 armed men, stopped several vehicles near Rakhani in the Barkhan district.

After verifying the identity cards of the passengers, they forcibly removed seven individuals from one of the coaches and shot them dead, they added.

Barkhan Deputy Commissioner Waqar Khurshid Alam confirmed that all the victims hailed from Punjab and were en route to Lahore when the attack occurred.

After the incident, the authorities tightened security in the affected area to prevent any recurrence of such violent acts.

Meanwhile, security forces initiated an extensive investigation to trace and apprehend the perpetrators, as Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti ordered a full-scale inquiry into the incident.

He condemned the attack in the strongest terms, labelling it a "cowardly act of terrorism".