Taliban take 35 Pak soldiers hostage

More than 35 Pakistani soldiers went missing on Thursday after a fierce attack by the Afghan Taliban on a border check-post in the country's restive tribal belt. The militants have claimed that they are holding ten Pakistani soldiers hostage.

Major General Athar Abbas, the chief military spokesman, confirmed the attack on the check-post, located between the Mohmand and Bajaur tribal regions, on Monday and said 40 personnel from the paramilitary Frontier Corps were initially reported missing.

The militants handed over five security personnel to the Pakistani consulate at Jalalabad in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, while the whereabouts of the other 35 is unknown,
Abbas told the media.

Efforts were on to trace the missing personnel, he said.

However, the BBC, quoting Taliban sources, said the militants claimed they were holding 35 Pakistani soldiers after they overran the post in the Mohmand tribal area.

While attacks by Taliban on military check-posts in the tribal areas are common, this is the first time that the Taliban has taken Pakistani soldiers captive.

According to the BBC, a Taliban spokesman claimed that the rebels were holding Pakistani troops on both sides of the border -- 30 in Afghanistan and 10 in Pakistan.

The spokesman claimed that its fighters killed seven soldiers in the attack.

Reports from Kabul, quoting Kunar provincial police chief Khalilullah Ziaye, said nine Pakistani militiamen were apprehended by the Afghan army while they were fleeing attacks by the Pakistani Taliban.

Several major Taliban factions, including the Haqqani network and the Tora Bora Military Front, operate in Nangarhar and are known to shelter and train across the border in Mohmand and Bajaur Agencies.

One report said 65 security personnel were manning the check-post and only 11 had reported to their superiors after Monday's attack.

The report said some Pakistani personnel might have accidentally crossed into Afghanistan and were in the custody of Afghan forces.