Taliban militants seize police station, take hostages in northwest Pakistan
The Hindu
The Pakistan Army troops were immediately dispatched to the area, which had been sealed.
The Taliban militants on Sunday seized a counter-terrorism centre and took hostages in Bannu district of Pakistan's troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.
There is a hostage situation ongoing at the Counter-terrorism Department installation at Bannu Cantonment, an official said.
The militants infiltrated into the Cantonment and freed imprisoned wanted terrorists, police said.
They subsequently took control of a section of the compound, holding CTD security personnel hostage, police added.
The Pakistan Army troops were immediately dispatched to the area, which had been sealed. Local residents have been asked to remain indoors.
In a video released by the TTP militants from inside the CTD compound, they claimed that nine police personnel are under captivity and demanded safe passage to Afghanistan by air in order to release the hostages.
Special assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, however, said that some suspects in custody under suspicion of terrorism tried to snatch weapons from security personnel deployed on site.