Armed fighters killed a security guard and abducted 12 workers from a construction company’s camp in Balochistan’s Dukki district on Saturday, police said, while a separate attack on a gas exploration camp in Dera Bugti led to hours of fighting.
According to police, around 40 to 45 armed fighters stormed the SMC Construction Company camp in the Pulri area of Nana Sahib Ziarat, where they checked workers’ identity cards and took 12 of them away.
Ten of the abducted workers were from Punjab, one was a local resident and another was from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police said the company’s security guard was killed at the scene and two people, including a passer-by, were wounded, adding that the attackers also set fire to heavy machinery and four vehicles at the camp.
Meanwhile, armed fighters attacked a gas exploration company’s camp at Khajuri in the B-Loti area of Baiker, Dera Bugti, triggering an exchange of fire with an alleged state-backed armed group guarding the site.
SP North Dera Bugti Sardar Muhammad Hashim said one member of the armed group was killed and three others were injured. The wounded were taken to Indus Hospital in Sui and later transferred to Sukkur by air ambulance.
According to Hashim, Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and other Pakistani forces reached the site after receiving reports of the attack.
Local police claimed that at least five attackers were killed and three others wounded in the clash, which continued for several hours. They said Pakistani forces and members of the armed group guarding the site had surrounded the remaining attackers and that the operation was still underway.
The claimed casualties among the attackers could not be independently verified.
The attacks on the company camps followed assaults on Pakistani forces in Quetta and Mastung on Friday evening and overnight.
According to local sources, a large number of armed fighters attacked a Pakistani forces camp from several directions at Tas Butt in the Daghari area near Quetta on Friday evening, using rockets and other weapons. Intense gunfire and explosions were heard in the area for an extended period, they added.
Separately, armed fighters targeted the main camp of Pakistani forces in Mastung’s Isplinji area with rockets during the night. Eyewitnesses said several explosions occurred inside the camp.
Authorities had not released details of casualties or damage from the Quetta and Mastung attacks at the time of reporting.