QUETTA: At least 20 police constables were kidnapped by unidentified armed men this week in Pakistan’s southwestern Mastung district, a senior official said on Saturday, highlighting the alarming law-and-order situation in the militancy-hit Balochistan province.

The kidnapping took place on Friday in Mastung district’s mountainous Gorgina area, the provincial official said. The constables were kidnapped while they were returning from a police recruitment center in Kalat district, he added.

“At least 20 police constables were traveling in a passenger van when a group of armed men intercepted their vehicle in Gorgina, a remote and desolated mountainous area of the district, and kidnapped the returning policemen,” the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Arab News spoke to a police official as well, who confirmed the development. However, he also declined to be named.

The government official said the kidnapped constables belonged to Balochista’s Nushki, Kharan, Chaghi and Washuk districts.

No group has claimed responsibility for the incident. However, separatist Baloch militants such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) have claimed attacks against law enforcers in the province in the recent past.

The BLA and other separatist militant groups blame the federal government for denying locals a share in Balochistan’s mineral and natural resources. Pakistan’s federal government denies this and alleges these groups are funded by India.

Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks in recent months in Balochistan and its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces, both of which border Afghanistan.

A day earlier, police and government officials said Asad Ulllah Kakar, commissioner of the province’s Rakhshan Division, was abducted by unidentified armed men in Kharan.

Kakar was traveling from Quetta in a private vehicle with his driver and another staff officer when he was kidnapped. Local media reports, citing a police official, said the kidnappers released the driver later, who informed officials about the kidnapping.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for Kakar’s kidnapping as well.