QUETTA, Feb 28: A high-level meeting reviewed on Saturday the search operation launched in Loralai to recover 12 persons kidnapped by a group Jaffer tribe the other day and told law enforcement agencies to close in on the area where the victims reportedly were kept.

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Shoaib Nausherwani, who presided over the meeting, and two other provincial ministers, Maulana Faizullah and Sardar Masood Luni, reached Loralai on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the law enforcement agencies have laid a siege to the difficult mountainous areas of Sanjavi and Duki for the recovery of the kidnapped people.

Heavy contingents of Frontier Corps, levies and other law enforcement agencies have cordoned off the whole area leading towards Duki and Sanjavi. The local administration also called out helicopters to help FC troops and levies in the search operation. "But so far hostages and armed kidnappers could not be traced," Loralai District Coordination Officer Shakeel Hashmi told Dawn when contacted on telephone.

"The search is on round-the-clock," he said, adding: "If need be, the Army would be called out for the safe recovery of all the 12 hostages."

He said the armed man killed in an encounter with the levies was identified as Abdul Rehman belonging to Jaffar tribe. He was living with his uncle Mullah Abdul Wahid Jaffar.

His tribesmen and relatives had contacted the district administration for the custody of the body after his identification. However, nobody had come to receive the body.

The kidnappers, who belong to Jaffar tribe living in Loralai and Kohlu districts of Balochistan, had not yet sent their demands for the release of the persons, the DCO Loralai said. But some sources claimed that the kidnappers had asked the authorities concerned to release their accomplice Majeed Jaffar who was arrested by the Punjab police last month in Dera Ghazi Khan. He was wanted in various heinous crimes.

According to sources, the district administration has also established contacts with a spiritual leader of Jaffar tribe to use his influence for the release of the kidnapped people. On the other hand the sources said Balochistan had asked Punjab to provide details of the cases registered against Majeed Jaffar.

Six of the 12 hostages were identified as Mohammad Tariq, Zahoor Bibi, Shamshad Begum, Hidayatullah, Abdul Wahid and Shan, 10.