By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Taliban on Sunday seized a counter-terrorism centre in Bannu district of troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and took several people, including security officials, hostage to negotiate with the government a safe passage to neighboring Afghanistan, officials said.
An unnamed police official told a private television channel that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants took control of a section of the compound, holding security personnel belonging to the Counter-terrorism Department hostage. They also freed imprisoned wanted terrorists.
However, it is not clear if the terrorists attacked from outside, or if they snatched the ammunition from staff inside while being interrogated following their arrest.
The troops were immediately dispatched to the area, which had been sealed. Local residents have been asked to remain indoors.
The TTP did not immediately confirm or deny a link with the militants in the compound.
Another official said 15 militants had overpowered interrogators inside, grabbing their weapons and taking five or six of them hostage.
In a video released by the militants from inside the CTD compound, they claimed that 10 security officials are under captivity and demanded safe passage to Afghanistan by air in order to release the hostages. They threatened to kill all government officials if their demand was not met. They said they had also freed around 35 militants.
Special assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif said that some suspects in custody under suspicion of terrorism tried to snatch weapons from security personnel deployed on site.
“The situation is under complete control. Security forces have cordoned off the area,” Saif told reporters. “An operation is underway and will be completed in a while.”
Dawn.com reported that at least 25 arrested members of banned Islamist organisations were under interrogation at the CTD centre when they took the guns from seven security personnel on duty and made them hostages.
“Three policemen injured have been evacuated and transported to a hospital,” it reported, quoting an unnamed official.
The incident took place hours after militants attacked a police station in Lakki Marwat bordering the South Waziristan tribal district early Sunday morning, leaving four policemen dead and as many injured.
The Burgai police station in Lakki Marwat was attacked by militants carrying lethal weapons, including hand grenades and rocket launchers.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but previous attacks on police in the district have been claimed by TTP.
The TTP set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007, last month called off a ceasefire agreed upon with the government in June and ordered its militants to stage terrorist attacks across the country.
The group has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, and the massacre of 134 children at a military-run school in the northwestern city of Peshawar in December 2014.
It is not directly affiliated with the Afghan Taliban but pledges allegiance to them.
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