QUETTA: Four of the five Levies Force personnel who had been kidnapped from the Sunni area of Kachhi district about 10 days ago returned home on Thursday. The fifth one was killed in captivity.

Kachhi Deputy Commissioner Sultan Ahmed Bugti while confirming the return of the Levies personnel identified them as Mohammad Amin, Arbab, Hussain Bakhsh and Noman Shahwani.

One of them was found injured and admitted to hospital.

A team of five Levies personnel was kidnapped by armed men from the mountains. The team had gone there to conduct an operation after some elements set ablaze the dumper truck of a construction company in the Sunni area on Dec 3.

A day after the kidnapping incident, security personnel found the body of one of the kidnap victims, who was identified as Safar Khan. Local administration launched a search operation for the recovery of the kidnapped security men.

In the meantime, a banned outfit released a video in which the Levies personnel were shown in their custody. They put the condition that the Levies personnel would be set free only after the four Baloch women arrested from Awaran were released.

The women, who were taken into custody on a charge of carrying explosives and arms for Baloch separatists, were released from the central jail in Khuzdar on Monday. The Levies personnel reached their home on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2019