Rawalpindi (Web Desk): An operation to free hostages being held by militants at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) centre in Bannu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is successfully underway and will be completed soon, according to the ISPR.
Earlier, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, said that “all the terrorists” of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who had taken hostages at a CTD centre in Bannu were killed in an operation conducted by the Pakistan Army.
Asif said at least 33 terrorists were under arrest at the CTD compound and one of them had managed to snatch a gun from an employee after hitting him in the head with a brick.
The defence minister said that a unit of the army’s Special Service Group (SSG) carried out the operation, in which 10-15 of its commandos were injured while two were martyred.
The defence minister criticised PTI Chairman Imran Khan and called the incident a “total collapse” of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. “The unfortunate aspect of this is that terrorism is again making strides in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” he said.
Late Sunday, the militants held in the CTD centre took control of the building and took a number of law enforcers hostage. They had demanded safe passage to Afghanistan.