By DPA
Islamabad : Pro-Taliban militants have abducted seven more soldiers in northwest Pakistan as fresh efforts for the release of 240 troops captured three weeks ago remained inconclusive, officials said Wednesday.
The seven soldiers were seized after Islamic fighters fired rockets at a Frontier Corps check point in an overnight attack in the Hangu area of the North-West Frontier Province and took them to the neighbouring tribal district of North Waziristan, local police officer Mirza Khan said.
Rebels captured several groups of soldiers in recent weeks after government forces launched operations in the region, which according to Washington holds Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgent hideouts.
Tribal elders were holding negotiations with the Islamic extremists for the release of the separate group of 240 soldiers, who were surrounded and disarmed on Aug 30 in South Waziristan.
Media had reported that the militants agreed to free the first batch of 100 hostages on Wednesday in exchange for the army’s withdrawal from two local check points.
But a local negotiator later said the talks broke down because only 10 prisoners were to be set free.
“We demanded that 105 soldiers should be released but they refused to do so,” negotiator Akhtar Mehsud Gul told the Geo news channel, adding that the sides would hold further talks Friday.
The militants have demanded complete withdrawal of troops from the tribal areas, which suffered a sharp surge in violence since troops stormed Islamabad’s radical Red Mosque in July.