A separatist group in Pakistan's volatile southwest claimed responsibility on Thursday for an attack which officials said saw seven bus passengers lined up and shot dead.
Security forces have for decades battled ethnic and separatist violence in impoverished but mineral-rich Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
Attacks have risen sharply in recent years, especially against labourers from Punjab, the country's most populous and prosperous province and a major recruitment base for the military.
The separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) group claimed the late Tuesday attack in a statement, saying they had targeted "the Pakistani army and its intelligence agencies".
"BLA accepts responsibility for this operation and issues a warning to all agents of the enemy army," a statement said.
However, local senior government official Saadat Hussain told AFP on Wednesday that seven labourers from Punjab had been executed after the tyres on their bus were burst and they were ordered off the vehicle.
Groups such as the BLA are waging an insurgency calling for autonomy for Balochistan -- the largest but most sparsely populated province of Pakistan.
Baloch separatists claim the region is being exploited by outsiders, with wealth from its natural resources syphoned off with little benefit to the local population.
At least 68 people have been killed in attacks in Pakistan this year, according to an AFP tally -- the majority security forces targeted by anti-state militants.
Last year was the deadliest in a decade for Pakistan, with a surge in attacks that killed more than 1,600 people, according to Islamabad-based analysis group the Center for Research and Security Studies.
Most militant violence takes place in Pakistan's western regions bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
Bd-Pratidin English/ARK
