16 labourers abducted in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

Thu Jan 09 08:16:48 UTC 2025: ## Sixteen Workers Kidnapped in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province

**PESHAWAR, Pakistan (January 9, 2025)** – At least sixteen laborers were abducted by unidentified armed men in Pakistan’s volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday, according to local police. The workers, employed on a government project, were seized from their vehicle while traveling to a construction site. Their abductors subsequently set the vehicle ablaze in the Qabal Khel area.

While no group has yet claimed responsibility, suspicion immediately falls on the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group with a history of similar abductions in the region. The TTP, established in 2007, is considered to have ties to al-Qaeda and is responsible for numerous deadly attacks across Pakistan.

In a separate incident in the Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a bomb disposal unit successfully deactivated a 25-kilogram bomb planted near the Mehboob Ziarat check-post. Police reported the explosive device was positioned along a route frequently used by security forces convoys.