Hostages freed, captors killed as Pakistan seige ends
All 33 suspected militant prisoners who seized a Pakistani police station over the weekend were killed and their hostages freed in a clearance operation by special forces on Tuesday, the country's defence minister said. The hostage takers, who were suspected of being members of various militant groups including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), overpowered their jailors and snatched weapons on Sunday. "All the hostages have been freed," Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament. "Ten to 15 men from the SSG (special forces) including an officer were wounded while two were martyred." Elite troops stormed the police station around noon when differences broke out among the hostage takers over how to handle their captives, with witnesses reporting blasts and heavy firing. Muhammad Ali Saif, a spokesman for the provincial Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, said the suspected militants, who are being held on suspicion of terrorism, had demanded safe passage to Afghanistan in return for releasing the hostages. "There were 33 terrorists from different groups who had been arrested and jailed in the counter-terrorism department compound," Asif said. "One of them hit his guard on the head with a brick while going to the toilet and snatched his weapon," he added, explaining how the siege unfolded. The police station is within a cantonment area in Bannu, adjacent to Pakistan's formerly self-governed tribal areas and near the border with Afghanistan. Offices and roads were closed and checkpoints have been set up around the area. Local schools were also ordered to close on Tuesday out of fear of more kidnappings, a senior government official at the scene said. The same source earlier said Pakistani officials had asked the government in Kabul to help with the release of the hostages. The TTP, separate from the Afghan Taliban but with a similar hardline Islamist ideology, said its members were behind the incident and demanded authorities provide them safe passage to border areas. A spokesman said special forces had suffered heavy casualties and had not been able to enter the police station. (AFP)