DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Seventeen employees of a sugar mills were reportedly abducted here after armed men intercepted their bus on the Indus Highway in the early hours of Wednesday, police said.

According to police, the incident took place in the Prova area, where around 15 to 20 armed men had reportedly set up a roadblock and stopped the bus carrying employees returning from the night shift.

The attackers checked the identity cards of the passengers before taking 17 employees with them, police said. Most of those abducted were reportedly security personnel.

Police said the incident was reported at around lam.

Initial information suggested that the incident was linked to a dispute over extortion demands, while police were investigating the circumstances surrounding the abductions.

Following the incident, police cordoned off the area and launched efforts to trace and recover the abducted employees. Contingents of the army were also dispatched from Dera Ismail Khan to assist the police in the recovery operation.

Further details about the identity of the attackers and the whereabouts of the abducted employees were not immediately available.

Meanwhile, relatives of kidnapped employees blocked the Indus Highway at Chowdhwan Morr to demand the immediate recovery of the hostages.

The protest disrupted traffic on the highway, with long queues of vehicles on both sides, causing inconvenience to commuters.

The protesters demanded that the authorities intensify efforts to recover the abducted employees.