World | Pakistan
Militants abduct 17 policemen on Khyber Pass
Suspected pro-Taliban militants have kidnapped 17 policemen from posts on the Khyber Pass, the latest security incident on the vital supply route for Western forces in Afghanistan.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:33 June 23, 2008
Landikotal: Suspected pro-Taliban militants have kidnapped 17 policemen from posts on the Khyber Pass, the latest security incident on the vital supply route for Western forces in Afghanistan.
Militants attacked four checkposts on Sunday night on the winding road through the pass which leads to the Afghan border, kidnapping the policemen and wounding one in a brief exchange of fire, a senior government official in the region said.
"Our 17 khasadar are missing," said the official in Landikotal, the main town in the Khyber region, referring to members of special police forces recruited in ethnic Pashtun tribal agencies.
"The attackers appear to be outsiders, maybe militants from Mohmand," said the official, who refused to be identified, referring to a neighbouring region where Taliban fighters operate.
No ransom
So far no militant group claimed responsibility and no ransom demand had been received, said the official.
The Khyber area had been virtually free of militant violence until this year but security has deteriorated sharply in recent months.
Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan was kidnapped in February while travelling through the Khyber Pass. Taliban militants holding him let him go in May. Several aid workers were also kidnapped in the region.
Rival militant factions have also been battling to control the area, but according to officials those militants have no links with the allies of Al Qaida and the Taliban fighting elsewhere along both sides of the Afghan border.
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