20 trainee police officers abducted in Balochistan while travelling on Quetta–Karachi highway

Karachi: Twenty trainee officers from a police academy were abducted by unidentified armed men in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province on Saturday, police said.According to the police, security forces launched a widespread operation to trace the abducted individuals, who were undergoing training at a police training centre in Kalat district.No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the abduction.However, the abduction comes amid ongoing intelligence-based operations by Pakistani security forces in Balochistan province against banned separatist groups and the outlawed terror outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).US Lawmakers Accuse Trump Of Favouring Putin Over Russian Oil Sanctions Waiver According to a senior police official, the trainee officers were heading home for the weekend when armed men on motorcycles intercepted their bus on the Quetta-Karachi highway near Mastung and forced the driver to take the vehicle with them.The attackers later released the driver and three other civilians travelling on the bus but took the 20 recruits away, the official said.In July, terrorists carried out attacks at at least three locations in the province. During an attack on a police checkpoint at Mangi Dam in Ziarat, 27 police personnel were killed.The terrorists first killed nine policemen at the checkpoint and then abducted 18 others. Their bodies were later found in the Zarghoon Gar mountainous area near Ziarat.US Budget Deficit Hits $1.99 Trillion In FY26, Highest Since 2021 As Debt Interest Costs Surge Last month, security forces killed five terrorists who had abducted 23 people from a highway checkpoint in Kalat and safely recovered the hostages.The Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan has witnessed a surge in abductions and attacks on civilians and security forces in recent years, prompting the government to intensify anti-terror operations. (Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

QUETTA: Unidentified armed men kidnapped 20 police recruits undergoing training at the Kalat Police Training Centre while they were travelling in a passenger van along the Quetta-Karachi Highway in Mastung district, officials said. A senior Balochistan government official confirmed the abduction to Dawn on condition of anonymity, saying the recruits were heading home for the weekend when armed men intercepted their van. “Yes, 20 police personnel who were going home for the weekend were taken away by armed men while they were travelling in a passenger van on the Quetta-Karachi Highway in Mastung,” the official said. He said a group of armed men riding motorcycles and carrying automatic weapons intercepted the van and took the recruits away along with the vehicle to an undisclosed location. The armed men, however, released the driver and three other passengers travelling in the van. Police officials in Mastung also confirmed the abduction, saying the recruits belonged to the Levies Force, which has since been merged with the police. The abducted personnel belonged to the Rakhshan division, government officials said. Security forces have launched a search operation in the nearby mountains to trace the abducted recruits. However, no information about their whereabouts has emerged so far. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction. A day earlier, Rakhshan Division Commissioner Asad Ullah Kakar was abducted in Balochistan’s Kharan district. In a separate incident, Kharan Deputy Commissioner Munir Ahmed Soomro was released safely on Oct 3 after nearly two weeks in captivity following negotiations between local tribal elders and the armed men who had abducted him from the Noshki-Kharan highway the previous month. On July 21, three excise officials were kidnapped after an attack on a checkpost in Balochistan’s Chagai district.

Efforts to recover them underway, say officials to The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity