Pakistan recovers 8 out of 16 mine workers abducted by militants

Pakistani security forces stated on Thursday that they had rescued at least eight of the 16 miners kidnapped by militants in the country's volatile northwest. This was confirmed by police and two security officials. The operation was launched within hours after militants ambushed and attacked the miners' vehicle on a narrow road in the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.

According to police officer Mohammad Ijaz, the attack occurred as the workers were traveling from Lakki Marwat to a nearby mining project. He did not provide further details. Other security officials indicated that the mining project where the workers were employed is linked to the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, but the kidnapped workers were not employees of the commission. They also stated that operations are still underway to rescue the remaining workers.

It is currently unclear whether the militants who kidnapped the workers suffered any casualties. The Atomic Energy Commission has not yet issued an immediate comment on the matter. Previously, militants sent a video to journalists showing some of the kidnapped laborers. In the video, a man urged authorities to accept the kidnappers' demands for release, though the specific demands were not clear.

While no organization has yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, which has increased its attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months. Just a day before this attack, dozens of armed Baloch separatists occupied a government office, robbed a bank, and partially burned a police station in a remote area of southwestern Pakistan before fleeing after security forces arrived.

The banned Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack that occurred in Khuzdar, Balochistan province on Wednesday. Analysts believe that the threat posed by separatists in the region to national security is now on par with that of the Pakistani Taliban. Local police officer Sohail Khalid stated that the militants fled after security forces arrived, and the situation is now under control. In recent months, armed violence has surged in Balochistan province and the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with most of it attributed to the Baloch army and the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.

The Pakistani Taliban are allies of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. The Afghan Taliban's takeover emboldened the Pakistani Taliban, whose leaders and militants are hiding in Afghanistan. Balochistan, rich in oil and mineral resources, is Pakistan's largest but least populated province and home to the country's Baloch minority, who say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.