QUETTA: Seven people, including a tribal elder and his two brothers, were killed after their vehicle was sprayed with bullets in Balochistan’s Zhob district on Thursday.

Levies officials said the incident happened in the Khurlam area of Murgha Kibzai, some 80 kilometres from Zhob town.

Officials said Ahmed Khan Kibzai was travelling in his vehicle along with his two brothers and some other people. When they reached Khurlam, located close to the Pak­istan-Afghan border, unidentified shooters hiding in nearby mountains opened fire on the vehicle using automatic weapons. Seven people died on the spot, while one person was injured.

“The victims tried to escape from the vehicle but were not given a chance to save their lives,” a senior Levies official said, adding that the bodies of Mr Kibzai and his two brothers were charred after the vehicle later caught fire due to firing.

Levies officials rushed to the site after receiving information about the incident and shifted the bodies and injured to the district hospital in Zhob.

“We have received seven bodies and one injured in the hospital,” hospital sources said, adding that all victims died of multiple bullet injuries.

The cause of the killing was not immediately known, and the authorities were investigating the incident. However, officials said that Ahmed Khan Kibzai was wanted in many cases by the Levies Force and was an absconder. He also had tribal enmity.

Six other victims were identified as Wahid Khan Kibzai, Abdul Manan Kibzai, Naik Mohammad Badeenzai, Sultan Khan Badeenzai, Fazal Rehman Kibzai and Najibuddin Kibzai. The man injured in the incident was identified as Jalal Khan.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2023