QUETTA: The Baloch Republican Army (BRA) has freed seven labourers kidnapped from the Chattar area of Balochistan province's Nasirabad district, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sibi Region Shariq Jamal said on Thursday.

However, 18 people, including 14 policemen, are yet to be released, Jamal said. 

‘We did not conduct an operation to secure the labourers’ release. The release came about as a result of negotiations between the government and the Baloch Republican Army,’ he said.

‘Soon after the abduction of the labourers and the police officials, the government had constituted a jirga to deal with the issue.’

When asked if the provincial administration had met any of the demands of the Baloch Republican Army, the DIG said: ‘As far as I know, no one has been released in this regard as the militants had demanded.’

On July 31, BRA militants had kidnapped 11 labourers from Chattar. Subsequently, Station House Officer (SHO) of Dera Murad Jamali's Mir Hasan police station, Ehsanullah Khosa and his team launched an operation against the militants. 

However, they too were kidnapped during the operation. 

The militants had initially given the government a two-day ultimatum to release all Baloch political prisoners and had warned that if the prisoners were not released from Balochistan’s jails within that time, then all kidnapped police officials would be killed.

Eight policemen, including SHO Khosa, have so far been killed by the BRA militants, DIG Jamal said.

Members of the BRA could not be reached for comment.