DERA MURAD JAMALI / QUETTA: Two policemen were martyred in a gun attack in Nasirabad district on Saturday, while unidentified armed men kidnapped 20 police recruits undergoing training at the Kalat Police Training Centre as they travelled in a passenger van along the Quetta-Karachi Highway in Mastung district.
The two policemen came under attack by unidentified assailants near Bedar Bridge in Nasirabad.
“Constables Ahmed Lashari and Malik Bugti were patrolling the Pat Feeder area on motorcycles when the attackers opened fire on them,” Ghulam Sarwar, a senior police officer, told Dawn. He added that both constables succumbed to multiple bullet injuries.
The attackers also took away the policemen’s official weapons before fleeing the scene, the officer said.
Soon after the incident, a large contingent of police and Frontier Corps personnel reached the site and shifted the bodies to the district hospital. The officer said police were investigating the attack.
In protest, family members of the deceased policemen and other residents blocked the Quetta-Sukkur Highway by placing barricades and other obstacles on the road. They demanded the arrest of those involved in the attack.
Police said a search operation was underway to track down the assailants. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Abduction
Meanwhile, a senior Balochistan government official confirmed the abduction of the 20 police recruits.
Speaking to Dawn on condition of anonymity, the official said the recruits were heading home for the weekend when armed men intercepted their van.
“Twenty police personnel who were going home for the weekend were taken away by armed men while they were travelling in a passenger van on the Quetta-Karachi Highway in Mastung,” the official said.
He said a group of armed men riding motorcycles and carrying automatic weapons intercepted the van and took the recruits away along with the vehicle to an undisclosed location. The assailants, however, released the driver and three other passengers travelling in the van.
Police officials in Mastung also confirmed the abduction, saying the recruits belonged to the Levies Force, which has since been merged with the police.
The abducted personnel belonged to the Rakhshan division, government officials said.
Security forces have launched a search operation in the nearby mountains to trace the recruits. Their whereabouts remain unknown, and no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction.
Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2026
