At least 14 passengers were shot dead when unidentified assailants offloaded them from a bus on the Makran Coastal Highway in Balochistan's Ormara area on Thursday morning.

Around five or six buses travelling between Karachi and Gwadar were stopped by as many as 20 unidentified armed assailants in camouflage uniform, according to levies sources. The assailants stopped the buses and checked the identity cards of passengers and offloaded 16 of them.

The armed men shot 14 of the passenger while two passengers were able to flee. The bodies of the victims have been taken to a nearby health facility in Ormara.

Levies and other law enforcement personnel reached the site and initiated an investigation into the incident, local media reported. The reason behind the killings and the identity of the victims are yet to be ascertained.