An elite unit of the Pakistan Army retook a counter-terrorism interrogation center in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday two days after militants from Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group seized it, security sources told Reuters, but the fate of hostages inside remained unclear.
Security forces were still looking to clear the entire compound after launching the operation to free the hostages from the militants who snatched interrogators’ weapons and took their captives on Sunday.
Six security officials and several detainees were inside the centre, said the sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
“The operation is being concluded and there is no more resistance […] the security forces have entered into the compound,” one security source said. He said details on the hostages and the number of casualties would be given after the clearance operation was completed.
The military and the interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The operation came after the detainees, who were held for years at the centre, overpowered their guards on Sunday, seized their weapons and took them hostage. On Monday, one officer at the centre was reported killed by the hostage-takers.
Officials tried to negotiate with the hostage-takers but after more than 40 hours of failed efforts, special forces deployed to the area stormed the compound, security and intelligence officials said. They did not elaborate.
By Tuesday afternoon, thick black smoke billowed into the sky from inside the compound, after two explosions were heard. Intermittent gunshots were reverberating across the area, the officials said. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing situation.
Security forces had surrounded the neighbourhood in which the centre is located, where about 20 fighters from the Afghanistan-based group were holed up.
“All options failed and the terrorists refused to free innocent people, so we decided to use force,” a senior security official told Reuters earlier.
He said the minimum force would be used to ensure the safe release of the hostages.
A member of the TTP earlier told Reuters the group’s leadership had lost contact with their people in the compound. “We are told that a military operation has started,” he said.
According to an update from another security official, the army’s elite commando unit, the Special Service Group (SSG), had been called in to carry out the operation.
