Gunmen kill at least 31 people in two attacks in Pakistan

PAKISTAN: Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan killed at least 31 people in two separate attacks on Monday, with reports of other shootings and unrest across the same province, police and officials said.

Twenty-three people were fatally shot after being identified and taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail, a district in Baluchistan province, senior police official Ayub Achakzai said, in an attack claimed by separatists.

The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active militant separatist group in the region, claimed responsibility for the shootings in a statement emailed.

The buses, vans and trucks were stopped one after the other on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan, Najibullah Kakar, a senior official in Musakhail, told.