Police official Lal Mohammad says the gunmen were riding in three cars and intercepted the five men Sunday as they were heading to the Sorange mine, located some 40 km east of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. Basham Baloch, a spokesman for the Baloch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

He said the men were taken to force the government to stop mining. The Baloch Liberation Army is one of the main nationalist groups that has been waging an insurgency in Balochistan for decades to demand a greater share in the area's natural resource wealth.