DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, December 18 (Portal) – Islamist militants seized a counter-terrorism center in northwest Pakistan’s Bannu region on Sunday and took hostages to negotiate with government agencies, officials said.
“It is not clear whether the terrorists attacked from the outside or whether they snatched the ammunition from the staff inside,” Bannu police spokesman Muhammad Naseeb told Portal while being questioned after their arrest.
He said the site had been surrounded by security forces.
Two other officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the militants wanted to hold negotiations for safe passage into neighboring Afghanistan, which is ruled by the Islamist Taliban.
One said about 15 militants took control of the center after overpowering interrogators inside, seizing their guns and holding five or six of them hostage.
The militants’ affiliation was not immediately known.
Pakistan has fought an insurgency by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. The TTP joins the Afghan Taliban in attempting to mediate talks between the Pakistani government and the TTP.
A spokesman for the TTP did not immediately confirm or deny a connection to the militants at the compound.
Coverage of Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Writing by Gibran Peshimam
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.