SPY EYES

More than 400 armed Taliban stormed security checkpoints in Frontier Region (FR) Peshawar late on Wednesday night killing two and kidnapping 22 Levies personnel.

Assistant Political Agent (APA) FR Peshawar Naveed Akbar confirmed the kidnapping of 22 Levies men by the Taliban, who also killed two personnel and injured another.

“We had deployed 30 Levies personnel at two checkpoints in the Hassankhel and Janakor areas of FR Peshawar and 22 of them went missing after the Taliban attack on Wednesday night,” the APA said.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesman Mian Iftikhar Hussain, who is also information minister, also confirmed the kidnapping of 22 Levies personnel by the Taliban. However, he said it was a tribal area and the provincial government would cooperate with the political authorities for the safe recovery of the security personnel.

Spokesman for the Darra Adamkhel-based Taliban, Mohammad, claimed responsibility for the attacks on the checkpoints and the kidnapping of the Levies soldiers. However, he claimed the kidnapping of 33 Levies personnel, adding that arms and ammunition were also snatched. There were reports that 10 of the kidnapped security personnel were found dead later, but it was neither confirmed by the government officials nor by the Taliban.

TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan also claimed responsibility for the attack and the kidnapping of the security personnel.

Official sources said more than 400 armed Taliban attacked the two checkpoints situated near the border with semi-tribal area Darra Adamkhel, using rockets, AK-47 rifles and hand grenades. Another government official told The News on condition of anonymity that the missing security personnel might have been shifted by the Taliban to their sanctuaries in the adjoining Darra Adamkhel or Khyber Agency.

The official said hundreds of armed militants attacked the checkpoints manned by the Levies but neither the police nor other security forces were sent for their rescue. He said the militants torched the two checkpoints and their vehicles before fleeing to their hideouts.

On Thursday morning, the official said, a search operation was conducted in the area but the kidnapped Levies personnel were perhaps taken to the remote tribal areas.

The APA said a grand jirga of elders of the FR Peshawar was also convened today (Friday) to ask them to play their role in the safe recovery of the kidnapped security personnel.