QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan on Thursday ambushed a bus on a highway and killed 14 passengers after forcing them off the vehicle, a local official said.

The official, Jehangir Dashti, said it was unclear who was behind the killings, which took place before dawn.

He said about three dozen people had been on the bus, traveling to the southwestern port of Gwadar, when gunmen stopped it and killed 14 people after checking their identity cards.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killings. </s> Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) Militants wearing security force uniforms stopped two buses in southwest Pakistan on Thursday and killed 14 passengers after ordering them out of the vehicles, police said.

Balochistan provincial police chief Mohsin Ali Butt told CNN that 15 to 20 attackers stopped the buses near the town of Ormara, in the south of the province.

The militants ordered 14 out of the total passengers to disembark and shot them at close range before escaping. "This was an act of targeted killing," he said.

An alliance of Baloch separatists, Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), claimed responsibility for the killings, saying in a statement sent to journalists that they had targeted passengers who were part of the country's military.

In the statement a BRAS spokesman said: "Those who were killed carried identity cards of the Pakistan Navy and Coast Guard, and were killed after being identified."

Read More </s> At least 27 people were killed and another 13 injured when a bus caught fire after crashing into a truck in southern Pakistan, officials said on Tuesday.

The accident occurred on Monday evening in the city of Lasbela when a tyre on the bus burst causing the driver to lose control and crash into the truck, local police spokesperson Mohamed Ramzan told EFE. </s> QUETTA, Pakistan — A Pakistani official says gunmen have ambushed a bus and killed 14 passengers after forcing them off the vehicle on a highway in the country's southwest.

Local official Jehangir Dashti says it was unclear who was behind the killings before dawn Thursday.

He says about three dozen people were traveling to the southwestern port of Gawadar when gunmen stopped the bus and killed 14 people after checking their identity cards. The motive behind the killings is not known.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killings but Baluchi separatists often target security forces and people from Punjab, who tend to dominate the ranks of the military stationed in Baluchistan whom the separatists are fighting.

Separatists have waged a low-level insurgency in Baluchistan, demanding a fairer share of the province's resources. </s> At least 24 people were killed when a bus in southwest Pakistan burst into flames after crashing with a truck on Monday, officials said.

The bus carrying dozens of passengers was heading from the southern city of Karachi to Panjgur district when it crashed in Lasbela district.

“We have recovered 24 bodies from the vehicle. All of them were burned,” local administration chief in Lasbela district, Shabir Mengal, told AFP.

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“The bus is very hot from the inside, we are taking out bodies slowly.”

Senior police official Agha Ramzan Ali also confirmed the crash and said a rescue operation was underway.

Deadly traffic accidents are very common in Pakistan owing to reckless driving and the bad condition of roads.

Every year hundreds of people lose their lives in traffic-related incidents in the country. </s> At least 26 killed after bus collision in southwestern Pakistan

At least 26 people have been killed after a bus collides with a truck and catches fire in southwestern Pakistan. </s> Pakistani police say at least 19 people have been killed and 35 injured after two buses collided in the eastern province of Punjab.

Officer Imran Yaqoob said the collision took place late on October 21 over a bridge near the city of Dera Ghazi Khan, some 450 kilometers west of the provincial capital, Lahore.

Yaqoob said the death toll could increase as many of the wounded were in critical condition.

Yaqoob said both buses were speeding when they collided.

Local officials said 15 people were killed on impact, while four other succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

Traffic accidents are common in Pakistan, where poor road conditions, poorly maintained vehicles, and disregard for safety standards and traffic rules by drivers cause more than 5,000 deaths every year, according to government statistics.

Based on reporting by AP and Dawn </s> At least 19 people were killed and over 40 others injured in a head-on collision between two passenger buses in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Sunday night, police and media said. According to reports, the accident happened on Multan road in Dera Ghazi Khan district, reports Xinhua news agency.

One of the passenger buses was completely destroyed in the accident, reported TV channel ARY News, adding that the bodies of the dead and injured were retrieved after cutting parts of the buses.

A hospital official said the death toll might further rise as several injured were in critical condition.

Police officials in the area said the accident happened due to speeding and negligence of one of the bus drivers.

According to official data, around 9,000 road accidents are reported every year in Pakistan, claiming more than 4,500 lives on average annually. </s> At least 14 people were lined up and executed in southwestern Pakistan after gunmen ambushed a bus and forced the passengers onto a highway early Thursday, officials said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Prime Minister Imran Khan has condemned the attack in restive Baluchistan province as "an act of terror."

The attack took place as the bus was traveling on the Makran coastal highway between the port city of Karachi and the Gwadar port in the southwest, local official Jehangir Dashti told The Associated Press. He said that the passengers targeted in the attack were killed after the assailants checked their identity cards.

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"In this tragic incident, 14 passengers were forced off the bus, they were lined up in a nearby open area and killed by the terrorists," Dashti said. The identities of the slain were not immediately clear.

Security forces from the nearby town of Buzi Top were dispatched and had reached the area, about 375 miles from the provincial capital, Quetta, he added.

In his statement, Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered authorities "to make every possible effort to identify and to bring the perpetrators of the barbaric act to justice."

Separatists have for years waged a low-level insurgency in oil-rich Baluchistan, complaining of discrimination and demanding a fairer share of the province's resources and wealth.

Other militant groups also operate in Baluchistan. Last Friday, a suicide bomber targeted an open-air market in Quetta, killing 20 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
14 people are killed in a gun attack on a bus in Pakistan.