Description
Taliban militants seized a police station in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday and took hostages, according to media reports. A Pakistani police officer told the PTI news agency that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters broke into the Bannu cantonment in the restive province and released the jailed wanted terrorists. They then seized control of a section of the compound, holding security personnel belonging to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) hostage.
"It is not clear if the terrorists attacked from outside or if they took ammunition from the personnel inside" while being questioned after their arrest, Bannu police spokesman Muhammad Naseeb told Reuters. A hostage taking is taking place at the CTD facility, police said. Pakistani Army troops were immediately deployed and the compound was surrounded by security forces. The special assistant to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's chief information minister, lawyer Mohammad Ali Saif, said the situation is under control.
In a video released by the Taliban militants from inside the CTD compound, they claimed nine policemen are being held captive and demanded safe passage to Afghanistan by air to free the hostages. The incident took place hours after militants attacked a police station in Lakki Marwat, on the border with the South Waziristan tribal district, early Sunday morning, killing four policemen and injuring as many, according to a PTI report.
