Militants kidnap seven coalminers in Quetta

QUETTA: A group of militants abducted at least seven coalminers of the Pakistan Mineral Development Cooperation (PMDC) in Soranj, on the outskirts of Quetta in the early hours of Tuesday.

However, within a few hours, the kidnappers freed three out of four coalminers.

Senior official at the Hanna Levies Station Abdul Qahir told The Express Tribune that a group of armed men arrived in an official ambulance of the PMDC near the coalmine field at around 12:30am.

“They abducted seven employees of PMDC, including a driver and coalminers who were working in PMDC’s coalmine,” the official said.

“Levies officials have recovered three out of four of the kidnapped coalminers from captivity of the armed men,” Qahir added.

A huge contingent of the Frontier Corps (FC) and the Balochistan Levies reached the site once authorities discovered what had happened.

“Law enforcing agencies have mounted a massive manhunt in the area,” the official told The Express Tribune.

However, the security forces could not trace the kidnappers till the filing of this report.

The abducted employees were identified as Haji Lal Mohammed, Noor Mohammed, Saleh Mohammed and Rehman Gul. And three coalminers who were released later were identified as Abdul Ghafoor, Sanaullah and Azizur Rehman.

The Soranj coalmine field is located around 30 kilometers north of Quetta valley where the Balochistan Levies is responsible for maintaining public order. Hundreds of coalmines are situated in the area.

The search operation was still underway in the area till the filing of this report.