Gunmen kidnap, kill nine bus passengers in Pakistan's Balochistan

Gunmen killed nine bus passengers after kidnapping them in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Friday.

"The passengers had been kidnapped from multiple buses on Thursday evening," news agency Reuters quoted Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind as saying.

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Naveed Alam, another government official, said the bodies with bullet wounds were found overnight in the mountains.

While no group has claimed responsibility, Baloch rebels have in the past been involved in such incidents, killing passengers after identifying them as coming from the eastern Punjab province.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is the strongest of a number of rebel groups long operating in the area bordering Afghanistan and Iran, a mineral-rich region.

They blame Pakistan authorities for "stealing" their regional resources to fund spending in Punjab province.