QUETTA: Kidnappers freed five officials belonging to the Balochistan Irrigation Department on Friday. The officials had been abducted from the Pasni area of Balochistan's Makran belt a day earlier.

Police sources told Dawn that kidnappers freed all five hostages near Pasni. All hostages freed by kidnappers are in better condition, police said.

The officials were working on the Shadi Core Dam in Turbat when they were abducted by militants. The defunct Baloch Republican Army (BRA) had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

In another incident, militants blew up a 16-inch gas pipeline in Balochistan's resource-rich Dera Bugti district on Friday morning. Security officials told Dawn that militants had planted improvised explosive materials close to the pipeline.

Security officials added that the explosive went off with a loud bang, blowing up the 16-inch gas pipeline, however, the impact of the incident is yet to be confirmed.

BRA spokesman Sarbaz Baloch claimed responsibility for blowing up the gas pipeline in Dera Bugti.

Police and Frontier Corps personnel reached the area to start an investigation into the incident.