QUETTA, Pakistan — Armed men abducted 20 police recruits travelling home on leave from a training centre in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, according to provincial officials and police quoted by Pakistani news outlets on Saturday, October 17.
The trainees were travelling in a private passenger van after training at the Kalat Police Training Centre when unidentified gunmen stopped the vehicle on a route in or near Mastung district. Officials told Dawn that the attackers were riding motorcycles and carrying automatic weapons. They took the recruits to an undisclosed location, while releasing the driver and three other passengers.
What authorities have confirmed
Police and provincial government officials told Dawn and The Express Tribune that the abducted men were former Levies Force personnel now serving with the police following the merger of the two forces. They were assigned to the Rakhshan region and had been travelling towards their home districts for weekly leave.
Accounts differ on the precise road where the van was intercepted. Dawn described the Quetta–Karachi Highway in Mastung district, while other reports placed the interception along a route connecting Kalat, Nushki and Mastung. Zark News has not independently established the exact location.
Security personnel launched a search for the missing recruits, officials said. As of the latest reports reviewed on Saturday, authorities had not announced their recovery, and no armed group had publicly claimed responsibility. The identity and motives of the abductors remain unknown.
Why the kidnapping matters
The abduction raises new concerns about the security of law-enforcement personnel travelling between districts in Balochistan, where attacks and kidnappings have repeatedly disrupted government operations. The recruits were not reported to be on an active policing assignment when they were taken; they were returning home on leave.
The case follows another reported abduction involving a senior provincial official. Dawn reported that Rakhshan Division Commissioner Asad Ullah Kakar was abducted in Kharan district a day earlier. Separately, Kharan Deputy Commissioner Munir Ahmed Soomro was released earlier this month after nearly two weeks in captivity, according to the newspaper. Authorities have not established a connection between those cases and the missing trainees.
What happens next
The immediate priority for police and security forces is locating the recruits and establishing who took them. Officials have not released a public timetable for the operation or confirmed any negotiations. Information about the men’s condition has not been independently verified.
This is a developing story. Zark News will update it when authorities confirm material new details.
Sources: Dawn, October 17, 2026; The Express Tribune, October 17, 2026.
