Two engineers among four coalminers kidnapped in Quetta

Official says search operation underway to ensure safe recovery of abducted employees

QUETTA:

Armed suspects on Tuesday abducted four employees of a coalmine, including two engineers, in Hanna Urak, Quetta.

Police sources said employees of the Habibullah Coal Company were kidnapped on their way back from work.

"A search operation is underway to ensure safe recovery of the employees," a senior administration official requesting anonymity told The Express Tribune.

He further added that the kidnapers shifted the employees to an undisclosed location.

Militants in the past have also targeted security forces and abducted coalminers. Sorange and Marwar, the two areas of the provincial capital house rich coal reservoirs.

Also read: ‘Terrorist’ arrested with explosive-laden motorcycle in Quetta

The sources also said that thousands of coalminers belonging to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Punjab are working in the province.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the kidnapping.

On Sunday, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Balochistan foiled terrorists' bid to target security forces and the courts of the provincial capital through improvised explosive device (IED) explosions.

In a statement, a CTD spokesperson said they had received a tip-off about the aforesaid attempts. He added that a motorcycle rider, when stopped, was found to be carrying an IED installed on his bike.

The spokesperson further said that the explosive device was later dismantled by the bomb disposal squad.