Armed men abduct 2 Chinese teachers near Pakistan's Quetta

Armed men disguised as policemen have abducted two Chinese language teachers near Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta.

Anwar ul Haq Kakar, a Balochistan government spokesman, confirmed on Wednesday that a "Chinese couple" had been kidnapped when they were coming out from a language center in Jinnah, near the international airport on the outskirts of Quetta.

Kakar said the men who were pretending to be police officers also injured a passerby who attempted to stop them from kidnapping the Chinese couple. He said officials had earlier mistaken the injured passerby for a security guard.

The Balochistan government spokesman also explained that the passerby had asked the men why they were "doing this." The fake officers had replied that they were from a law enforcement agency, Kakar added. The men, however, shot the passerby and injured him when asked for their identification cards, the official said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping but it has the hallmark of Takfiri terrorist groups who have, in the past, abducted foreigners inside Pakistan for ransom or publicity for their cause.

The Chinese embassy in Islamabad confirmed the kidnapping.

SS