QUETTA: Unknown gunmen kidnapped 18 workers at gunpoint and set numerous vehicles on fire in an attack on Thursday night on the camp of a construction company and its crushing plant in Naal area of Khuzdar district, officials said.
The incident marks the second kidnapping of workers in the region in four days. The first incident took place three days earlier, although officials did not make it public until yesterday.
Levies officials said more than two dozen armed men stormed the camp and crushing plant of a private construction company on Thursday night in the Naal area, about 80 kilometers from the district headquarters of Khuzdar.
“They set fire to at least eight vehicles and other machinery and took the workers away.” [to an] Fate unknown,” said a senior Levies force official in Naal.
The attackers also set many vehicles on fire; The incident comes days after armed men kidnapped nine workers in Mastung.
Company director Zulfiqar Ahmed said the attackers initially kidnapped 20 people.
“The gunmen kidnapped 20 farm workers, but two of them were later released as they headed to an unknown destination,” Ahmed said. He confirmed that the kidnapped workers belong to Sindh.
The workers were working on a road project for the D. Baluch construction company, which is building roads to connect Naal with the Washuk and Basima areas. Authorities said at least eight vehicles were completely destroyed and other machinery was damaged in the attack.
Security forces have launched a search operation in the area to find the kidnapped workers and the armed group responsible.
In the previous attack, unidentified gunmen kidnapped nine workers as they returned home from work at a construction site. The attackers also hijacked the van in which the workers were traveling, all at gunpoint in the Dasht area, Mastung district.
No one has claimed responsibility for any of the recent kidnapping incidents.
Published in Dawn, October 25, 2025
