Talks between the government and militants \u2014 who took over the Bannu Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) compound a day earlier \u2014 did not result in any breakthrough despite the lapse of almost 15 hours.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, detained militants inside the CTD facility took over its compound, held interrogators hostage and demanded safe evacuation to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
The situation in Bannu remained tense on Monday as police and security agencies cordoned off the cantonment area \u2014 where the facility is located \u2014 and asked residents to stay indoors. Internet and mobile phone services were also suspended in the area.<\/p>\n
The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the incident. In a statement, a spokesperson for the militant group said that its members had taken CTD staff and security officials as hostage. He added that the militants \u2014 in a previous video statement \u2014 had demanded safe passage but \u201cmistakenly mentioned Afghanistan\u201d.<\/p>\n
He further said the group had spoken to government officials overnight and asked them to \u201cshift the prisoners\u201d to either South or North Waziristan, but lamented that they had not received a positive response so far.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif said the situation was at a standstill and there there was no breakthrough as yet.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Dawn.com, Saif also said that he was constantly in contact with the Taliban. \u201cI spoke to the Taliban high-ups through the night,\u201d he said, admitting that talks had not been fruitful thus far.<\/p>\n
He also confirmed that a security official was killed in the Bannu compound by the militants but did not elaborate further. He said the government had engaged the militants to avoid casualties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Talks between the government and militants \u2014 who took over the Bannu Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) compound a day earlier \u2014 did not result in any breakthrough despite the lapse of almost 15 hours. On Sunday, detained militants inside the CTD facility took over its compound, held interrogators hostage and demanded safe evacuation to Afghanistan. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-302135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n