A delegation of tribal elders and clerics had been formed to secure the release of more than 100 soldiers who were reportedly held hostage on Thursday by suspected militants in the tribal region, the News Network International (NNI) news agency reported on Friday.
A 15-member delegation of tribal elders, parliamentarians and religious clerics would talk to the militants to secure release of the soldiers who were allegedly kidnapped in South Waziristan tribal area on Thursday, NNI quoted a government officer Khayesta Rehman as saying.
A military helicopter carried members of the delegation to the region but it landed on its way because of bad weather, member of the delegation Senator Saleh Shah said on Friday.
Army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad denied the report that some soldiers were abducted, saying that several paramilitary soldiers could not reach their destination on Thursday.
Local media reported that around 120 paramilitary soldiers from Frontier Corps were traveling in vehicles when armed men kidnapped them in South Waziristan. The soldiers were going from Wana, the center of South Waziristan, to Ladha, a town in the region, when abducted by the some armed militants.
Reports also suggested that the militants first ambushed the convoy of security forces and then held them hostage. There was no report of any casualty.
Zulfikar Mehsood, a spokesman for the militants, was quoted by local media as saying that the soldiers were planning a major operation against the militants and that that was why they were held hostage.
It was the third incident of kidnapping of soldiers in less than a month in the same region. The militants kidnapped 20 security men in two groups this month and beheaded one of them. The remaining 19 were freed this week after tribal elders held a series of talks with the kidnappers.
The security situation in the Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan deteriorated since local militants in North Waziristan on July 15 scrapped a peace deal signed with the government in September last year. The militants continually launched attacks on security forces and triggered clashes that have left more than 250 militants and 60 security men dead since early July.
Source: Xinhua
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