KARACHI, Pakistan

 At least eight passengers were killed in two separate attacks in southwestern Pakistan, officials said on Thursday.

In the first incident, at least five passengers were killed after being offloaded from a bus by militants, and sprayed with bullets in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.

The incident, latest in a string of similar attacks, occurred in the strategic port city of Gwadar in Balochistan province, where militants blocked a highway in the Kalmat area, and offloaded the passengers from a Karachi-bound bus late Wednesday night.

The armed men checked the identification cards of the passengers before killing them. The deceased belonged to northeastern Punjab, the country's largest and richest province, according to local media.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the incident in a post on X, saying: “Offloading innocent passengers from a bus and murdering them based on their identity is a heinous and cowardly act.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack, however, the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has carried out similar attacks in the past.

Last week, four laborers from Punjab were killed by unidentified assailants in Balochistan’s Kalat district, while four policemen were similarly gunned down in Noshki district.

There are reports of several other road blockades by armed men in Bolan, Kolpur and Mastung areas, where security forces were engaged in clearing the roads.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in separate statements, also condemned the incident, calling the attackers the “enemies of peace and development.”

In another terrorist attack, three people were killed and another 21 injured in an explosion at a busy street in the provincial capital Quetta.

The injured included two children, while the condition of at least three is stated to be critical.

The police said the cause and target of the explosion were being ascertained.

The minerals-rich Balochistan province has long been witnessing a low-intensity rebellion, with renewed attacks by BLA in recent weeks.

The BLA militants, earlier this month, hijacked a passenger train in the Bolan region, killing 31 people, including five paramilitary troops. Some 33 suspected attackers were also killed in a day-long security operation.

Separatist groups have been fighting for the "liberation" of Balochistan, which they claim was forcibly incorporated into Pakistan in 1947, following the end of British colonial rule.