On Friday, unknown gunmen kidnapped 13 laborers in Tank, a district in northwestern Pakistan. Nine of the abductees were released on Saturday, according to police, as militancy surges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the rest of the country, Arab News reported.
Recent media reports indicate a rise in attacks targeting security forces and the assassinations of police and government officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Most of these attacks have been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Last month, unidentified gunmen attacked a house near Gwadar city in Balochistan, killing seven workers in what appeared to be an ethnic attack. All the victims were laborers from Punjab.
The previous month, the Balochistan Liberation Army separatist group claimed responsibility for killing several Punjabi workers who were kidnapped from a bus on a highway in Balochistan.
