Unidentified gunmen have killed 11 people in separate incidents on the same highway in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan Province.
Noshki district police chief Ilahi Bakksh said that the nine victims in the second attack, in which laborers were abducted from a bus traveling from the provincial capital of Quetta to a town near Pakistan's border with Iran, appear to have been killed execution-style.
"Militants blocked the highway leading to Taftan, bordering Iran, at midnight on April 13 in the Sultan Charai area near Noshki city," Bakksh told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal.
"Their bodies were later found under a bridge 2 kilometers from the highway having been fired upon at point-blank range."
Earlier, the same gunmen opened fire on a vehicle that failed to stop for the blockade, killing two people and injuring five, Bakksh said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility or the attacks, and police said there was no ransom demand or known motive.
Police said they were searching for the perpetrators.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attacks and expressed his "deep sorrow and regret over this shocking incident."
Sharif offered his condolences to the families of the victims, according to a statement from his office, adding that "the perpetrators of this incident of terrorism and their facilitators will be punished."
Balochistan is a mineral-rich province that borders both Afghanistan and Iran and is regularly targeted by Islamist militants, sectarian groups, and Baluch separatists fighting for independence.
SEE ALSO: What Is Jaish Al-Adl, The Separatist Group Targeting Iranian Forces?The Pakistani government has said it has quelled the insurgency in the province, but violence has persisted, often targeting police forces, the Pakistani military, or infrastructure.
Abductions are rare in the restive region.