Gunmen kill eight bus passengers in northern Pakistan

Gunmen attacked a bus near the town of Chilas in Pakistan, killed eight passengers and injured nearly two dozen others, said officials. The attackers opened fire on the bus on Saturday evening and the wounded were taken to a local hospital. Police, told media that two soldiers were among those killed another 26 passengers were wounded in the attack some with bullet injuries.

The bus was travelling the Karakoram Highway, one of the highest roads in the world. The attack, according to officials, took place at about 6:30pm (13:30 GMT) when the attackers opened fire at the bus and it subsequently collided with an oncoming lorry. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and the motive for the shooting was unclear.

“The government will ensure that the terrorists involved in the attack are given the appropriate punishment,” the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, Haji Gulbar Khan, said in a statement.

Chilas lies in the mountainous region of Gilgit Baltistan, near the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where attacks have been rising in recent years.