QUETTA: Armed men on Sunday kidnapped assistant commissioner of Ziarat district and his son, setting their vehicle ablaze before taking them to an unknown location, officials said.

The gunmen abducted assistant commissioner Muhammad Afzal Baqi while he went for a picnic with his family to the Zezri area, said Ziarat Deputy Commissioner Zakaullah Durrani.

The assailants stopped the vehicle at gunpoint and ordered everyone to abandon it before setting it on fire. They released Baqi’s gunman, driver and other family members but forced the official and his son to go with them.

“Efforts were underway for the recovery of [the] AC and his son,” Durrani said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the abduction of Mr Baqi and his son.

The abduction is the second of a high-level administrative officer in the region in two months.

On June 4, armed men kidnapped the assistant commissioner of Tump, Muhammad Hanif Noorzai, as he travelled with his family. The banned Baloch Liberation Front, or BLF, later claimed responsibility for that kidnapping.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2025