DERA ISMAIL KHAN:
A massive search was underway in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to recover at least nine civilian workers of a factory, who were kidnapped by terrorists for ransom in Kabal Khel area, he said police on Thursday.
According to the police, terrorists affiliated with Fitna al-Khwarij – the term used for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – kidnapped 17 civilian employees of a government project on Darra Tang Road in the morning. The terrorists took the hostages and set fire to the staff van, he added.
“At around 9am, 17 workers, including a driver, involved in a mining project were traveling in a minibus when men stopped them and took them away at gunpoint on Dara Tang Road in Lakki Marwat,” said Shahid Marwat, Lakki spokesperson. Marwat district police told a media outlet.
The kidnapped officials include senior administrative official Hafiz Bashir, senior technicians Ehsanullah, Safiullah and Habibullah, technician Moazullah Anwar, computer operators Hazrat Ali, Abdul Rehman, Muhammad Israr, junior assistants Rehan, Sikandar, Aqeel, Noman, the watchman Riaz et al.
Security forces and law enforcement personnel took immediate action and have so far recovered eight kidnapped workers, according to police. They added that a massive operation was being carried out to recover the remaining workers.
“Eight of the kidnapped workers have been recovered, of whom three suffered minor injuries,” the police spokesperson said, adding that an operation involving police and security personnel was underway in the district to recover the remaining workers.
Doctors at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) confirmed that they treated three recovered hostages. Following the incident, announcements were made from mosques in several villages in the district to protest against the incident.
The abduction came as the KP Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said its personnel killed three terrorists belonging to a TTP affiliate in an intelligence operation in Malang Adda area. They identified the dead as Shafeeq Nawaz, Muhammad Mujahid alias Jihadyar and Fidaur Rehman.
(WITH INPUTS FROM THE NEWS DESK)
