Pakistan, July 31 -- The six bodies recovered on Thursday were the final stage of a two-day terror operation on the Turbat Road, designed to leave a warning far beyond Kech. Armed men blocked the road, intercepted a vehicle carrying labourers employed on a development project and took them away. One was shot soon afterwards and his body dumped on the highway. The other six were held, tortured and killed at close range; four were from Punjab and two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A passer-by was also killed in the firing.

July has supplied a grim ledger of similar intent. Five labourers from Punjab were shot dead in Mashkail on July 12. Around 30 armed men surrounded a temporary excise checkpost on the Dalbandin-Taftan Highway last week, abduct...