Security forces recover 4 out of 6 kidnapped footballers in southwestern Pakistan — official

This undated file photo shows recovered Pakistan footballers, (clockwise, from top to bottom) Yasir Bugti, Fasial Bugti, Sohail Ahmed and Amir Bugti, who were kidnapped earlier this month. (Photo courtesy: Family handouts)

• Unidentified armed men kidnapped footballers on Sept. 9 in southwestern Pakistan
• Balochistan government official says remaining two footballers to be recovered ‘soon’

ISLAMABAD: Security forces recovered four out of six footballers who were kidnapped 20 days earlier in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, an official confirmed on Friday, vowing that the remaining two would also be recovered “soon.”
The local footballers, aged between 17 and 20, were abducted on Sept. 9 in the gas field town of Sui, in Dera Bugti district of Balochistan by unidentified armed men while they were on their way to a tournament.
“Security forces have recovered four out of six kidnapped football players in Dera Bugti, who were going to Sibi to participate in the qualifying round of the Chief Minister Gold Cup tournament,” Nawabzada Jamal Khan Raisani, Balochistan’s caretaker minister for sports and culture, said in a statement.
“The remaining two players will be recovered soon.”
He did not specify who kidnapped the footballers. 
The names of the footballers recovered are Amir Bugti, Muhammad Yasir Bugti, Faisal Bugti and Sohail Bugti, Raisani said. The minister added that security forces were fulfilling their responsibilities and the recovery of the footballers was a result of the efforts of law enforcement agencies.
Ameer Baksh, father of the footballer Muhammad Yasir Bugti, confirmed his son was among the three other kidnapped players who had returned home safely.
 “We were informed by the authorities that my son Muhammad Yasir has been recovered,” Bugti told Arab News over the phone from Dera Bugti. “We are happy that our children returned home.”
 Bugti said he had neither received a call for ransom from any group nor had he paid anything for his son’s release.
Pakistan’s gas-rich Balochistan province has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists for around two decades. The separatists say they are fighting what they see as unfair exploitation of the province’s wealth by the state, a charge denied by Pakistani authorities.