QUETTA: Police in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan recovered the bullet-riddled bodies of six laborers kidnapped earlier this week, a police official said on Thursday, highlighting the deteriorating security situation in the province amid surging militancy.
The incident took place late Monday, when armed men blocked a road in the Klatuk area, about 32 kilometers (20 miles) from Turbat in Kech district. They killed one laborer and abducted six others. According to police, the victims were from Pakistan’s eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces.
Bodies of the abducted laborers were found on Thursday morning from Nasir Abad, a remote area located around 40 kilometers from Turbat, Station House Officer Dad Bukhsh told Arab News.
“We received information about the bodies at 8:00 am in the morning and shifted them to the hospital for autopsy and identification,” Bukhshsaid. “They were shot from a point-blank range.”
He said relatives of the victims have arrived to retrieve the bodies, adding that arrangements are being made to shift them to their native villages.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, though suspicion is likely to fall on separatist militants, particularly the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which has intensified attacks across the province in recent months.
Separatist groups, including the BLA, have increasingly targeted members of the security forces, government officials and laborers from Punjab and other parts of Pakistan. Militants accuse them of representing the federal state’s interests in resource-rich Balochistan.
The recent spate of attacks point to an alarming law-and-order situation in Balochistan. Earlier this week, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mureed Bugti was traveling from Rakhni to Barkhan area in his private vehicle when unidentified armed men intercepted the vehicle, abducted him and his gunman. Provincial authorities said the men later shot the officer dead.
Earlier this month, a District and Sessions Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar and his security guard were killed in Balochistan’s Mastung district. Gunmen ambushed their vehicle as the judge was traveling to court.
The attacks come despite an ongoing security offensive launched by Pakistani forces in early July under Operation Shaban, aimed at dismantling militant networks across Balochistan. Authorities say 143 militants have been killed since the operation began, while intelligence-based operations against armed groups continue across the province.
