Two Policemen Martyred on Patrol in Nasirabad as Gunmen Abduct 20 Police Recruits in Mastung, Balochistan

DERA MURAD JAMALI / QUETTA: Saturday was a grim day for the Balochistan police. In Nasirabad, two constables on a routine patrol were shot dead by unidentified gunmen, and in Mastung, armed men stopped a passenger van on the Quetta-Karachi highway and took away 20 police recruits who were heading home on leave. Search operations were under way after both incidents, and no group had claimed responsibility for either attack.

Ambushed near Bedar Bridge, official weapons taken

Police said the two constables were patrolling the Pat Feeder area on motorcycles when the attackers opened fire near Bedar Bridge. The martyred constables were identified as Ahmed Lashari and Malik Bugti. Senior police officer Ghulam Sarwar said both men were hit multiple times and died on the spot, and that the gunmen fled with the constables’ official weapons. A large contingent of police and Frontier Corps personnel reached the scene soon after, and the bodies were shifted to the district hospital. Family members of the martyred policemen, joined by local residents, then blocked the Quetta-Sukkur Highway with barricades and demanded the immediate arrest of those behind the attack.

Recruits taken from a van on their way home

The abduction took place in Mastung district. A senior Balochistan government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that 20 recruits of the Kalat Police Training Centre were travelling home for the weekend when armed men intercepted their van on the Quetta-Karachi highway and took them away to an undisclosed location. Reports said the recruits were former Levies Force personnel who had joined the police after the merger of the two forces and were assigned to the Rakhshan region, while the van’s driver and a few other passengers were released. Officials said a search operation was under way to trace the missing recruits and secure their recovery.