QUETTA: Unknown armed men abducted 18 labourers at gunpoint and set fire to numerous vehicles in an attack on Thursday night at a construction company camp and its crushing plant in Naal area of Khuzdar district, officials said.

The incident marks the second kidnapping of labourers in the region in four days. The first incident took place three days earlier, although it was only made public by the officials yesterday.

Levies officials said over two dozen armed men stormed the camp and crushing plant of a private construction company late on Thursday in the Naal area, about 80 km from the district headquarters of Khuzdar.

“They set at least eight vehicles and other machinery on fire and took away workers with them [to an] unknown destination,” a senior Levies force official in Naal said.

Assailants also set ablaze many vehicles; incident comes days after gunmen abducted nine labourers in Mastung

The company manager, Zulfiqar Ahmed, said the attackers initially took 20 people.

“The armed men kidnapped 20 labourers from the camp but two of them were freed later on their way to an unknown destination,” Mr Ahmed said. He confirmed that the abducted workers belong to the Sindh.

The labourers were working on a road project for the D. Baluch construction company, which is building roads to connect Naal with the areas of Washuk and Basima. Officials said that at least eight vehicles were completely gutted and other machinery was damaged in the attack.

Security forces have launched a search operation in the area to find the kidnapped workers and the armed group responsible.

In the previous attack, unidentified gunmen kidnapped nine labourers as they were returning home from their work on an under-construction building site. The assailants also hijacked the pickup truck in which the workers were travelling, all at gunpoint in the Dasht area of Mastung district.

No one has claimed responsibility for either of the recent kidnapping incidents.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2025