Overview
- Twenty trainee police who were former Levies members were intercepted and taken while travelling from the Kalat training centre to their homes on Saturday, officials said.
- Security forces launched a large manhunt, set up checkpoints and carried out local searches around Mastung and neighbouring districts to locate the missing recruits.
- Officials say the attackers remain unidentified and no group has claimed responsibility, though some news reports cite sources who suspect armed Baloch separatists.
- The military’s media wing reported separate intelligence-based operations on October 17 that killed eight suspected militants and recovered about 490 kilograms of explosives.
- The abductions add to a months-long rise in attacks and kidnappings in Balochistan that rights groups link to alleged enforced disappearances and that could further inflame local tensions.