Taliban fighters in Pakistan are detaining police officers in Bannu district and demanding to exit Afghanistan through safe passage as Pakistani forces threaten.
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Pakistani policemen surround the police station in the Bannu tribal district
The Taliban in Pakistan claimed responsibility for its fighters, who are being held at a police station in Bannu tribal district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, overpowered police and arrested about 10, demanding safe passage to Afghanistan.
A spokesman for the government of Khyber Pakhtun province, Khawa Muhammad Ali Saif, said in a statement on Sunday that the Taliban fighters have asked the government and interested parties to comply with their demands, while the movement in Afghanistan has not clarified his stance on moving within Pakistan.
About 30 members of the Pakistani Taliban are detaining a number of policemen after they managed to elude their captors and take over a police station, officials said.
A government official in Bannu, where the events take place near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas, said the hostages were still being held after the failed rescue operation.
“During the interrogation procedures, some of them stole weapons from the police and subsequently arrested all the people,” he added in a statement to Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.
He added: “They want us to ensure safe passage by land or air. They want to take all the hostages with them and release them later at the Afghan border or inside Afghanistan.”
Security officials told the “Associated Press” that the authorities are still holding talks with the kidnappers and are asking for help from many relatives of the “Pakistani Taliban” insurgents.
On the other hand, security officials said that some soldiers were among the hostages and there are fears that the army could storm the facility if negotiations fail.
Attacks have increased again in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban took power in Kabul last year, but have mainly targeted security forces.
and last month, A truce is over months between Kabul and Islamabad.
