Six workers employed by a private mining company were abducted by unidentified armed men from a mining site in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, prompting authorities to launch a search operation.
The incident took place on Tuesday in the remote mountainous Zarghoon Ghar area of Harnai district, where the armed men stormed the worksite during operations and took the workers away at gunpoint.
“The armed men stormed the worksite when work was going on and took away six workers at gunpoint with them,” a police official said, as per PTI.
The abduction triggered a search operation by law enforcement agencies. All six workers belonged to another province and were of Pashtun background.
Balochistan has witnessed several similar incidents in recent years, with suspected militants from banned insurgent outfits targeting workers at construction and mining sites.
In May, insurgents kidnapped seven people, including two police personnel, in the gas-rich Dera Bugti area. The abductions came three days after an Airport Security Force (ASF) officer and his associate were kidnapped from the Kalat area. The officer’s body was recovered from a remote area in Kalat late last month.
Late last year, labourers were abducted in two separate incidents from construction sites in Mastung and Khuzdar.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area, has several remote mountainous regions where insurgent groups belonging to banned outfits have remained active in recent years. The groups have largely carried out hit-and-run attacks, posing continuing security challenges for law enforcement agencies in the restive western province.
