Schoolkids held hostage in Pak released

New Delhi: More than 60 students taken hostage by Islamic militants in North Waziristan have been set free in return for safe passage.

Police said the group of seven militants had holed up in a school, demanded safe passage and negotiations were brokered by a member of the local provincial assembly. The negotiations were successful and the militants left the school.

The militants had earlier abducted a health worker but were stopped by police who killed one of them in the gun battle that followed. However, it is not clear which Islamist group the militants belong to.

The militants, equipped with rocket launchers and grenades, have demanded safe passage from the school at Domail village.

The militants initially abducted a health official but were spotted by some policemen. Police chased the militants and shot dead one of them before they holed up in the school at the village in Karak district of the NWFP, officials said.

The health official managed to escape from the clutches of the militants.

Caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan said the militants were demanding safe passage and the NWFP government was negotiating with them to release the children.

"There are about seven terrorists, they have made the schoolchildren hostage," Khan told state-run PTV.

Karak district borders the restive North Waziristan tribal agency, where security forces have clashed with pro-Taliban militants in recent days. The nearby district of Bannu has also witnessed attacks by militants.

With PTI inputs