Turbat police says four of the victims were from Punjab, while two belonged to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
QUETTA:
The bodies of six labourers abducted on Monday from the Kalatak area of Kech district were recovered from the Nasirabad area on the outskirts of Turbat on Thursday, Balochistan Home Department media adviser Babar Yousafzai said.
According to Turbat police, the labourers were abducted by unidentified armed men after their vehicle was intercepted near Kalatak in Turbat on Monday. The attackers shot dead Javed Khan, a resident of Swabi district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, immediately after the abduction and took the remaining six labourers with them.
During the attack, a passer-by, Abdul Razzaq, a resident of Solband, was also killed after being caught in the crossfire. Police and security forces subsequently launched a search operation to recover the abducted labourers.
Yousafzai and Turbat police confirmed that the bodies recovered from Nasirabad were those of the six abducted labourers. Yousafzai said four of the victims were from Punjab, while two belonged to K-P.
Turbat police identified the victims as Arshad, son of Muhammad Rafiq, a resident of Lodhran; Muhammad Taimur, son of Muhammad Rafiq, a resident of Bahawalpur; Muhammad Wazir, son of Muhammad Ramzan, a resident of Bahawalpur; and Muhammad Parvaiz, son of Muhammad Bashir, also from Bahawalpur. The two victims from K-P were identified as Amjad, a resident of Buner, and Yahya, son of Nawroz Khan, a resident of Swabi.
Also Read: DSP among 3 martyred in Balochistan attacks
Police said the armed men later killed the six abducted labourers and dumped their bodies in the Nasirabad area. After receiving information about the incident, police and other relevant authorities took the bodies into custody and shifted them to Teaching Hospital Turbat for post-mortem examinations.
Law enforcement agencies have since cordoned off the area, begun collecting evidence, and launched operations to trace the attackers.
In a statement, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned the killing of the labourers, holding terrorists belonging to Fitna al-Hindustan responsible for the attack. Naqvi expressed his heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the bereaved families of the victims, saying the government stood with them in their time of grief.
Naqvi said the attackers had “not only taken innocent lives by targeting labourers, but also attacked Balochistan’s development and the livelihoods of its people.”
He added that the terrorists were now targeting “innocent and defenceless civilians”, saying “no amount of condemnation is enough” for such acts. “The beasts who mercilessly killed six non-local labourers deserve no leniency,” the interior minister added.
The incident comes amid a spate of attacks across Balochistan in recent weeks. On Tuesday, three people, including Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Murid Bugti, were killed, a truck driver was injured, and five trailers along with two gas bowsers were torched in separate attacks across Barkhan and Chagai districts.
The same night, armed men blocked the N-40 highway at Padag in Chagai district, opened fire near a roadside hotel, injured a truck driver, and set five trailers and two gas bowsers ablaze.
The violence followed another high-profile attack on July 23, when District and Sessions Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar and his security guard were killed after unidentified gunmen opened fire on their vehicle on the national highway in Mastung. Additional Sessions Judge Tariq Lashari and another passenger were seriously injured in the attack.
Earlier, on July 12, five labourers from Punjab were shot dead in Mashkail, Washuk district. According to Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind, the victims were working at local shops when unidentified armed men stormed the area and opened indiscriminate fire, killing all five before fleeing.
