ISLAMABAD: Suspected Taleban militants yesterday handed over the bodies of 17 paramilitary troops killed in an ambush in Pakistan's restive northwest, highlighting a surge in insurgent activity there.
The dead were part of a convoy heading to a fort outside the city of Hangu near the border with Afghanistan on Saturday when rebels attacked it with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, officials said.
Three militants including a local Taleban commander named Razeem were killed and six others injured in the ensuing gunbattle, which lasted until late Saturday in the Zargari neighborhood outside Hangu. Hangu Mayor Haji Afzal Khan told AFP the rebels had initially refused to allow security forces to retrieve the bodies but relented after frantic negotiations with a jirga, a committee of local elders.
The bodies were taken to a hospital in Hangu, where they were to be returned to relatives of the victims, a security official told AFP.
Meanwhile, a curfew remained in force for the fourth day in Hangu causing hardship for the local population, residents said.
Yesterday, a suicide bomber wounded at least three people. The bomber struck near a cantonment area in Dera Ismail Khan, but it appeared his explosives did not fully detonate, said Muhammad Qasim Khan, a police officer.
— With input from agencies
