MASTUNG: At least 20 police recruits undergoing training at the Kalat Police Training Centre have been abducted by unidentified armed men in Balochistan’s Mastung district, according to government and police officials.
The recruits were travelling in a passenger van along the Quetta-Karachi Highway when armed men intercepted their vehicle and took them to an undisclosed location. The personnel were reportedly heading home for the weekend.
A senior Balochistan government official confirmed the incident, saying the attackers arrived on motorcycles and were carrying automatic weapons. They took the recruits away along with the van but released the driver and three other passengers travelling in the vehicle.
Police officials in Mastung also confirmed the abduction. They said the kidnapped personnel belonged to the Levies Force, which has since been merged with the police. The recruits were from the Rakhshan division of Balochistan.
Following the incident, security forces launched a search operation in nearby mountainous areas to trace the missing personnel and locate their captors. However, their whereabouts remained unknown at the time of reporting.
No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction so far.
The incident comes amid a series of security concerns in Balochistan, where government officials and security personnel have faced kidnappings and attacks.
A day before the latest incident, Rakhshan Division Commissioner Asad Ullah Kakar was abducted in Kharan district. His abduction has added to concerns over the security situation in the province.
In another case, Kharan Deputy Commissioner Munir Ahmed Soomro was released safely on October 3 after spending nearly two weeks in captivity. His release followed negotiations between local tribal elders and the armed men who had abducted him from the Noshki-Kharan Highway the previous month.
Earlier, on July 21, three excise officials were kidnapped following an attack on a checkpost in Balochistan’s Chagai district.
