Militants reiterate demand for safe passage
\nMilitants reportedly continue to capture the entire compound of the police station
\n BANNU
\nThe hostage situation in the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police station in Bannu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) continues after almost 17 hours as the militants occupying the compound of the police station on Monday reiterated their demand for safe passage to Afghanistan.
\nThe militants reportedly control the entire police station compound.
\nAs per reports, the body of a policeman, who was martyred last night by the firing of the militants, has been transferred to the police lines.
\nRoads adjacent to the CTD compound and Bannu cantonment have been closed to traffic due to the security situation in the area.
\nAccording to reports, the militants have appealed to Bannu\u2019s scholars and leaders for talks.
\n\u201cInnocent people are in our custody, our aim is to free our comrades, not to harm anyone,\u201d a statement by the militants read.
\nA day earlier, at least two CTD officials were martyred and many more injured after a militant overpowered interrogators, snatched an AK-47 rifle, and opened fire inside the CTD facility.
\nThe Bannu district police officer told The Express Tribune that the militant also freed other suspects being held in the building and they took control of the compound, taking several policemen hostage. The authorities later cordoned off the entire Bannu cantonment, he added.
\nIn the meanwhile, militants purportedly released at least three videos in which they could be seen armed with AK-47 rifles and machine guns. In one video they showed a hostage and demanded the security forces to provide them with a helicopter to reach Afghanistan safely. The videos could not be verified.
\nEarlier, two police officials, while speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that about 15 militants took control of the centre after overpowering their interrogators inside, grabbing their weapons and taking five or six of them hostage.
\nIn Peshawar, K-P government officials said that the situation was under \u201ccomplete control\u201d and efforts were being made to foil the \u201cevil intentions of the criminals\u201d. \u201cThere has been no infiltration in Bannu Cantonment,\u201d a K-P government spokesperson claimed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Militants reiterate demand for safe passage Militants reportedly continue to capture the entire compound of the police station BANNU The hostage situation in the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police station in Bannu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) continues after almost 17 hours as the militants occupying the compound of the police station on Monday reiterated their demand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[3822,5298,5925,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-302193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-bannu","9":"tag-ctd","10":"tag-hostage","11":"tag-situation"},"yoast_head":"\n