Militants seize govt building in Peshawar

Peshawar, Sept. 14: Dozens of gun-toting Islamic militants briefly seized a government building in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar late Saturday, but no one was hurt, officials said.

The militants were believed to be loyal to Mangal Bagh, the leader of a radical group accused by officials of kidnapping for ransom in Peshawar, harassing locals and running torture centres and private jails.

Witnesses said the fighters, who later fled under cover of darkness when security forces surrounded the building, were heavily-armed and wearing masks.

A security official said the building's security guards were briefly taken hostage, but they managed to alert police, prompting the response from security forces.

"We have vacated the building and freed the hostages but the militants have managed to escape," Peshawar police chief Sulaiman Shah told reporters. "A search and cordon operation will continue for three hours to apprehend the militants," he said, adding that it was not possible to say how many had been involved in the siege.

Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, is not far from Pakistan's rugged tribal areas on the Afghan border, where the Army is battling Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.

A senior security official said the hostage-takers had been able to leave the building after tribal elders from the Khyber agency intervened, indicating that an agreement had been made to secure their safe passage.

"The attack appears to have been symbolic, to convey a message that they can attack a government building," the security official said.

As well as kidnapping for ransom, Bagh's Lashkar-e-Islam group has also been accused of attacking convoys ferrying supplies to Nato and US troops in Afghanistan that travel through the historic Khyber Pass. Bagh and authorities signed a peace pact in July after the military had conducted a 10-day operation to counter his fighters, who had threatened to take over Peshawar. -AFP

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17 militants killed in Bajaur airstrikes

Islamabad, Sept. 14: Seventeen militants were killed and over 20 injured in airstrikes on Sunday by Pakistani security forces in the troubled Bajaur tribal region, where the Army is conducting a crackdown on the local Taliban.

Two jet fighters and several gunship helicopters targeted militant positions in different parts of Bajaur, where over 200 Taliban fighters have been killed since Thursday. The airstrikes also destroyed several militant hideouts.

The security forces have claimed that 1,100 militants have been killed in Bajaur Agency since the Army launched an operation against the Taliban in the area some six weeks ago. The security forces have also declared a temporary ceasefire in the restive Swat region of the North-West Frontier Province to facilitate peace talks between the Taliban and local tribal elders. The elders met the militants on Sunday to ask them to leave the Kuza Bandai region, which has witnessed heavy fighting in the past few days.

-PTI