Reposted from Express Tribune | July 18, 2011 | Four PMDC officials kidnapped in Quetta
See earlier report: 'No Survivors in Sorange mine collapse'

Five people, including a student and four officials of the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC), were kidnapped late Saturday from their residences, Balochistan Levies Inspector Mohammad Amin told The Express Tribune.

According to Amin, around 30 armed men besieged the PMDC residential colony in Sorange, a coalfield around 40 kilometres from Quetta, and kidnapped the four officials, identified as Mukhtiyar Junejo, Abdul Majeed, Kamran and Tanvir Hassan and a student Abid, from their houses.

The abductors also took two PMDC vehicles with them. Amin said that the incident took place at around 11 pm within the range of the Hanna Levies Thana.

The banned militant organisation, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.

Calling from an unspecified location, BLA spokesperson Meerak Baloch threatened to kill the abductees and said that the kidnappings were in retaliation to a search operation launched by security forces in Chamalang.

Last week, four security personnel and eight Baloch militants were reportedly killed in a clash in the Chamalang area of Kohlu.

PMDC is a government-run organisation currently engaged in extracting mines and minerals in Sorange.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2011.