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Armed men kidnap eight coal miners from Pak's Quetta

Senior official Sajjad Gul Kakar said the coal miners were sleeping in their makeshift camp near the coalfield when a group of armed men besieged their camp and kidnapped eight coal miners at gun point.

“Initial investigation showed that one of the Baloch rebel groups is responsible for the kidnapping of the coal miners,” Kakar told a private news channel. “The coal miners belonged to Khyber-Pakhtunkwa and a manhunt has been launched in the area,” another senior official stated.

He added that Baloch separatist groups often kidnap coal miners in order to stop mining companies from extracting coal and other resources.

A senior security official said a search operation has been launched to recover the kidnapped workers.

However, the official stated that the forces were clueless about the whereabouts of the kidnapped coal miners.

Shahrag has rich coal reservoirs where thousands of miners have been extracting from deep coal mines. Most of the miners come from KP and Afghanistan’s volatile southern region.

Militants had kidnapped seven coal miners on July 7 last year from Quetta district’s Dergai area and later on their bodies were found in the area.

A couple of years ago, some Baloch rebel groups had warned the companies not to carry out any project in Balochistan, threatening to target the companies if they engaged in such activities.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for these kidnappings. — Online