TTP claims kidnapping 30 Bajaur kids

 KHAR: Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed the responsibility for abducting 30 young boys who accidentally crossed the Pak-Afghan border while picnicking on Eid, Geo News reported Saturday.


According to details, Taliban militants based in Afghanistan on Wednesday kidnapped 35 children from Bajaur Agency after they had mistakenly crossed into Afghanistan’s Kunar province. However, the militants reportedly released those below 10 years of age and detained the remaining 25.

(According to Online, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said kidnappers had freed 10 children and that he had talked to his Afghan counterpart about the immediate release of the remaining abducted innocent children.

Talking to reporters in Karachi, he said the government was in contact with the Afghan government to secure release of the detainees.) Some reports said the militants had kidnapped 60 boys, but later released those who were below 10 years of age. Other reports said 30 boys were kidnapped.

The boys in different groups were busy in cooking and walking in the area as part of their picnic to Ghakhi Pass, some 40 kilometres to the northwest of Khar town, the administrative headquarters of Bajaur Agency. The sources said the boys mistakenly crossed the Afghan border and entered Kunar province where Taliban had set up their sanctuaries and were in control of the border villages in the mountainous region.

The Taliban militants detained the boys and made them hostage, shifting them to their hideouts at Karora area in Kunar province. Parents and government officials in Bajaur came to know about the incident when the boys released by militants reached their homes.