By DPA,
Islamabad : Pakistani security forces early Tuesday recovered dozens of cadets and staff of a military-run college who had been kidnapped by Islamist insurgents in the volatile tribal region near Afghanistan the previous day, the military said.
The hostages were rescued after “a fierce fight” in the Garyum area, located some 20 km east of the Razmak town in North Waziristan district, a hotbed of Al Qaeda and Taliban militants.
“Seventy-one cadets and nine staff members of the Razmak Cadet College have been recovered,” a military spokesman said.
According to the spokesman, “miscreants” were transferring the cadets from North Waziristan to the adjoining South Waziristan district when they were engaged by the troops.
It was not immediately clear whether any casualties were caused during the rescue operation.
The cadets were kidnapped along with the college staff Monday when their convoy was moving from Razmak to the town of Bannu in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province.