Unknown armed men attacked a construction site in the Albat area of Noshki district in Balochistan, Pakistan, on Sunday and kidnapped four labourers, all Punjabis, working on the Noshki-Kharan road project, said officials.

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A private construction company was building the Noshki-Kharan road and had set up a camp in the Albat area, said Levies officials. A group of armed men arrived at the site, opened fire on construction machinery, and damaged it, they added.

The attackers took four labourers hostage at gunpoint and went away without being challenged.
Security forces reached the construction site on receiving information, cordoned off the area, and launched a search operation to recover the kidnapped workers.

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As per some videos posted on social media, the attackers also set ablaze Pakistani/Chinese construction trucks in the Albath area along the Noshki-Kharan route near the CPEC Road. 

WION could not verify the authenticity of the widely shared video.

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Meanwhile, the whereabouts of five police personnel remained unknown even 48 hours after they were kidnapped by armed militants in the Mongochar area of Kalat district while escorting a vehicle transporting 10 under-trial and convicted prisoners.

The prisoners were being transferred from Gadani jail in Hub district to Quetta and Mach jails. Armed militants intercepted the vehicle in Mongochar, where they had blocked the national highway, officials said.

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The attackers seized the vehicle, freed the 10 prisoners and abducted five police officers at gunpoint, taking them and their official weapons into nearby mountainous area after releasing the driver and vehicle.

Security forces are continuing a search operation in the area to rescue the abducted police personnel but have not succeeded so far.

The Baloch Liberation Army, a banned separatist outfit, claimed responsibility for kidnapping the police officials, including a senior officer, and also released photographs of the abducted officers.

Earlier, gunmen had shot and killed nine men after abducting them from a bus in the troubled province of southwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
Their bullet-ridden bodies were found beneath a bridge after one and a half hours, said the district deputy commissioner, Habibullah Musakhail.

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The Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the night attack and said those killed were intelligence operatives.

Separatist ethnic Baloch insurgent groups in the mineral-rich region have been fighting for decades against the state, saying it denies them their share of regional resources.

The region, which is home to the deep-water Gwadar seaport being developed by China, has witnessed attacks by insurgents who have also targeted Chinese nationals.
Beijing has invested heavily in regional development projects as part of its $65 billion pledge under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.