The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has reportedly abducted 16 employees of the Atomic Energy Commission. As per reports, the militants have released a video of the abducted staffers stating that they will be released in exchange for the release of TTP prisoners in Pakistan’s jails.
Pakistani Taliban (TTP) has released a video of 16 workers of Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission who were abducted earlier today in Lakki Marwat.
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) January 9, 2025
TTP has said that they are willing to free them in exchange for the release of several key TTP militants held in Pakistani prisons. pic.twitter.com/tow9TN2YBO
The staffers were kidnapped while working for some mining projects for the Atomic Energy Commission in Pakistan’s Lakki Marwat area, a volatile region in the violence-ridden Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The abduction happened in the Qabul Khel Atomic Energy mining project in Lakki Marwat. The vehicles that the employees were using were set ablaze by TTP militants.
Some reports emerging from Pakistan have mentioned that some of the victims are labourers while some are employees and staff members of the Atomic Energy Commission.
The Pakistan government has claimed that they have managed to ‘rescue’ 8 of the kidnapped persons. However, TTP has rejected the claims.
Security forces claim to be recovering eight people in retaliation while eight personnel are still abducted by the armed group. In retaliation, one abducted person was also got Injured. However, TTP debunking such claims of recovering, claiming they have released eight people pic.twitter.com/NIZ2JXIPXN
— Jawad Yousafzai (@JawadYousufxai) January 9, 2025
In a video released by the TTP, the employees were seen requesting the Pakistani authorities to negotiate with their abductors and save their lives.
The Lakki Marwat area is in the region bordering Afghanistan and has been a hotbed of TTP activities. Multiple instances of kidnapping and assault against Pakistani security personnel have happened in the region.
The TTP kidnappings happened just a day after Baloch rebels vandalised a police station, robbed a bank and seized a government office in Balochistan, another unstable region in Pakistan that is seeking independence from the Pakistani state.
