Police and security officials in northwestern Pakistan said Thursday that militants have abducted at least 16 government workers and set unclear demands for their release.
The group of civilian hostages are employees of a mining project related to the state-run Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in the militancy-hit Lakki Marwat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The men were commuting to work on a minibus when they were ambushed and taken hostage at gunpoint, area police officer Mohammad Ijaz said. The kidnappers then set the vehicle on fire before fleeing with the captives.
The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, reportedly took responsibility for the kidnapping and released a video featuring the kidnapped workers.
Some of the hostages were seen urging authorities to ensure their safe release by complying with the militant demands but did not elaborate further. VOA could not independently verify the militant claims or the authenticity of the video.
Police reported hours later that an ongoing search operation freed eight of the hostages and efforts were underway to secure the release of the rest. The operation left three of the freed men injured, with one of them in "critical condition," said police officials, without sharing further details.
Officials say the PAEC is tasked with promoting and conducting research on the peaceful applications of atomic energy in agriculture, medicine, industry, and development projects related to nuclear power stations and electric power generation.
Several districts, including Lakki Marwat in the Pakistani province bordering Afghanistan, routinely experience TTP attacks targeting security forces and government officials.
Thursday's kidnapping came a day after heavily armed separatist militants in Pakistan's sparsely populated southwestern Balochistan province briefly seized a government office, robbed a bank, and vandalized a police station in a remote district.
The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, claimed responsibility for staging the attack that officials said did not cause casualties.
The natural resources-rich, largest Pakistani province has experienced a spike in BLA-led insurgent attacks in recent months. The insurgents claim to be fighting for the independence of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan.
Islamabad claims that TTP and Baloch insurgents operate from safe havens in Afghanistan, and their attacks have intensified since the Islamist Taliban took power in the neighboring country in 2021.
However, the de facto authorities in Kabul deny the existence of foreign militant groups within their borders, asserting that they do not allow anyone to threaten neighboring countries from Afghan soil.
The TTP is designated as a global terrorist organization by the United Nations. Recent U.N. security assessments have described the TTP as the "largest terrorist" group in Afghanistan, with up to 6,000 fighters.
Some information in this report was provided by the Associated Press.
