Authorities today said a search operation will continue in the Mastung district of Pakistan's troubled Balochistan province to arrest the perpetrators of an attack on Karachi-bound buses that left 22 passengers dead.
Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said that in the joint operation by the Frontier Corps, Levies and Police seven of the suspected insurgents who carried out the attack had been killed in exchange of gunfire.
"We will not rest until all those who were behind this cowardly act are arrested and are held accountable," he said.
The insurgents were killed in the Khad Kocha area of Mastung where they had kidnapped around 30 passengers and took them into the mountains before killing 22 of them.
The attack has increased pressure on the government to step up efforts against insurgents and militants.
A strike and day of mourning was observed in provincial capital Quetta and other parts of Balochistan today to protest the killing of the passengers.
All shops and business centers remained closed while vehicular traffic remained sparse on roads as part of the strike observed in the provincial capital city.
Almost all political parties of the state had given the call of strike to mourn the killings while Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch announced a three-day mourning.
