KOHAT: Rival groups free eight hostages

Posted in Dawn

KOHAT, April 27: Eight kidnapped people, four of them students, were released after 60 days in a swap agreement reached between rival religious groups through the efforts of a jirga on Monday.

Armed men had kidnapped four students coming to the Al-Asar School from Hangu to Kohat from their school van after a shootout. The driver of the school, Asghar, had been killed and two students injured. A resident of Dera Ismail Khan, Basit Ali, had also been kidnapped reportedly by the same group. The kidnappers had been demanding Rs20 million for his release.

In retaliation, the rival group kidnapped three tribesmen, Ram Tal Khan, Attaullah and Farooq, belonging to North Waziristan, in the Ustarzai area of Kohat the same day.

The Kohat division commissioner had formed the jirga comprising elders from Hangu and Kohat to resolve the issue.