QUETTA: Militants abducted 13 workers of Uch Power Plant from Balochistan's Naseerabad district on Wednesday, a security official said.

The official, who requested anonymity, told Dawn.com that armed militants picked up the workers from Mangoli area of Naseerabad district.

He said the workers were traveling in their company vehicles from Sukkur to Naseerabad when they were intercepted by the militants.

"The militants managed to abduct the workers without any resistance", he said adding that: "We are clueless about the whereabouts of workers."

Following the incident, the district administration of Naseerabad and the Balochistan government launched a search operation in the troubled district.

Frontier Corps and police personnel were called into the Mangoli area to search for the kidnapped of workers.

Naseerabad is one of the most sensitive districts of Balochistan.

Militants have targeted passenger trains, gas pipelines and security forces in the area for more than a decade.

There has so far been no claim of responsibility for the kidnapping.

However, the security official suspected that defunct Baloch armed separatist groups were behind the kidnapping.

Incidents of kidnapping have increased in restive parts of Balochistan. Recently, kidnappers freed well-known cardiologist Dr. Manaf Tareen after receiving a heavy ransom amount.