A tense standoff between Taliban militants and Pakistan’s army and police force ended three days after the gunmen seized a local counter-terrorism centre and took hostages.
Pakistani security forces launched an operation on Tuesday and shot dead all the militants who seized the counter-terrorism centre in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to reports.
The militants, which officials earlier said numbered to at least 30, were members of the Tehreek–e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of Islamist and sectarian bodies separate from the Afghan Taliban.
Following the raid, Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said the swift operation was successful, but did not elaborate on how many Taliban militants were killed or whether any Pakistani official or civilian was killed in collateral damage.
The militants were detainees at the centre, held on suspicion of terrorism for years.
They demanded safe passage to Afghanistan in return for the release of at least six police and military intelligence officers.
On Tuesday afternoon, two explosions were heard in the area and thick black smoke was seen in the sky coming from the besieged centre.
Intermittent gunshots were also heard, officials told the Associated press on condition of anonymity.
Mohammad Ali Saif, a government spokesman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said Taliban militants were given a chance to surrender before the raid but they refused.
Pakistani authorities had earlier on Monday opened talks to resolve the standoff, but 40-hour-long efforts to negotiate yielded no results.
On Monday, one officer at the centre was reported killed by the militants.
“All options failed and the terrorists refused to free innocent people, so we decided to use force,” a senior security official told Reuters on anonymity, adding that an offensive was not launched earlier considering the safety of the hostages.
He said minimum force would be used to ensure the hostages’ safe release.
Special forces deployed in the area stormed the compound, security and intelligence officials said, without giving details.
Local schools in the area were ordered to shut, according to authorities, who cited concerns over more kidnappings by the TTP members.
The hostage-takers had released a number of videos in the past three days, demanding a safe exit from Pakistan and urging the people of Bannu to come forward to help them.
In one of the clips, a detainee declared himself “innocent” and said several innocents were also present in the compound along with Taliban militants and officials.
On Monday, former Pakistan prime minister Imran khan blamed the ruling Shehbaz Sharif government for the ongoing stand-off in Bannu, calling it an “imported government”.
“Apart from running our economy to the ground, this imported government has failed to deal with the 50 per cent increase in terrorism in Pakistan with incidents from Chaman to Swat to Lakki Marwat to Bannu,” Mr Khan said.
The hostage situation came as a spate of terrorist attacks rocked Pakistan.
On Sunday, four policemen were killed in a terrorist attack at a police station in Lakki Marwat in the district of Bannu division.
In Peshawar, an Intelligence Bureau sub-inspector was gunned down. In a suicide-bombing attack in Waziristan, a soldier and two civilians were killed on Monday in the Miran Shah area, a military statement said. The bomber was riding a three-wheeler and rammed into a military vehicle.
Bannu district is situated just outside North Waziristan, a lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan that has long been a safe haven for militants.
Pakistan’s military has launched several counter-terror operations in the tribal areas since 2009, at a time when it was fully controlled by local and foreign Islamist militants.
The operations drove several militants and their leadership to neighbouring Afghan districts. Islamabad has blamed Afghan leadership for allowing terrorists to set up training centres on its soil to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan, a charge denied by Kabul.
