The Taliban in North Waziristan carried out a brazen daylight operation that resulted in the kidnapping of hundreds of military cadets and their teachers as they traveled from a college in North Waziristan.
A large Taliban force armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, and assault rifles halted the convoy of 29 minibuses traveling from the Ramzak Cadet College to the settled district of Bannu. The cadets were traveling under the protection of Pakistani security forces, however there are no reports of fighting.
Between 300 to 400 cadets, teachers, and college staffers were kidnapped and taken to an undisclosed location. One bus driver and more than 40 students are reported to have escaped the Taliban hijacking.
“[A] Driver of one of the vehicles managed to escape and students reported to us that their colleagues have been kidnapped by Taliban,” a police official in Bakka Khel told Reuters. The convoy is said to have been ambushed near Bakka Khel.
The cadets and staff left the college after being threatened by the Taliban, according to reports.
via Taliban kidnap hundreds of cadets in Waziristan – The Long War Journal.
