Suspected militants abducted nine government officials, including six women, at gunpoint on the Bannu-Miranshah highway, officials said on Saturday. Security sources said that more than 30 masked gunmen stopped the government officials’ vehicle near Nawrak, 15 kilometres east of Miranshah and near Mir Ali town, the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency. “The officials were coming from Peshawar on a special survey mission to assess development projects in the region. They were accompanied by guards who could do little to protect them,” the officials said on condition of anonymity. The militants took away wireless communication equipment and six Kalashnikov rifles from the six guards. The guards were told to leave with the warning: “Don’t look back.”| Government officials have been kidnapped in the area before, but this is the first time the hostages include women, a practice that is looked down upon in the tribal code of Pashtunwali. |
No group has claimed responsibility but the local administration blamed “disgruntled elements” among the militant groups. An area intelligence official told AP: “We have reasons to believe that they were kidnapped by local militants.”
He said the kidnapped officials had been sent to the region to carry out a survey for building new schools, roads and hospitals. “This is what militants don’t like,” he said. The security chief for the North Waziristan tribal region, Arbab Arif, told Reuters that they had engaged tribal elders of the area for the release of the hostages.