World | Pakistan
Militants abduct 400 people leaving school
Suspected militants armed with rockets, grenades and automatic weapons abducted some 400 students, staff and relatives driving away from a boys' school in a troubled tribal region in northwest Pakistan on Monday, police and a witness said.
- AP
- Published: 23:15 June 1, 2009
Miran Shah: Suspected militants armed with rockets, grenades and automatic weapons abducted some 400 students, staff and relatives driving away from a boys' school in a troubled tribal region in northwest Pakistan on Monday, police and a witness said.
The abduction came amid rising violence in Pakistan's tribal belt - actions the military says are aimed at distracting it from its offensive against the Taliban in the nearby Swat valley.
Details were still emerging yesterday about the nature of the attack. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Police official Meer Sardar said the abduction occurred about 30 kilometres from Razmak Cadet College in North Waziristan tribal area. The people were leaving the school area after they were warned to get out in a phone call from a man they believed to be a political official, Sardar said, citing accounts from a group of 17 who managed to get away.
Around 30 buses, cars and other vehicles were carrying the students, staff and others when they were stopped along the road by a large group of alleged militants in their own vehicles.
The details were confirmed by a staff member at the school who was among those who escaped. He requested anonymity out of fear of Taliban reprisal but said the school's principal was among those abducted.
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