ISLAMABAD - Militants in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province killed 23 passengers after blocking a highway for several hours, officials said.

The incident happened in Musa Khel district of the province where the terrorists offloaded the passengers from the vehicles after checking their identities, the sources told Xinhua.

"The terrorists entered the vehicles and checked the identity cards of the passengers, following which they offloaded those coming from east Punjab province and shot them dead," the sources added.

The road connecting Punjab to Balochistan was blocked between 12:00 am (GMT 1900 Sunday) to 3:00 am local time (GMT 2200 Sunday), the source said.

The terrorists also torched several vehicles during the roadblock.

No group has claimed responsibility for the incident. However, in a message on social media, the proscribed organization Balochistan Liberation Army claimed to have blocked several roads across the province.