4 people kidnapped, including army officer visiting northwest Pakistan to attend father’s funeral

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Suspected militants kidnapped four people, including an army officer who was sitting in a mosque in a former stronghold of Pakistani Taliban to receive mourners after attending his father’s funeral, officials said Thursday.

No one claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s kidnapping of Lt. Col. Khalid Khan and three others in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan.

There was no immediate comment by the military or the government.

A local police official, Ikram Ullah, said efforts were underway to trace and recover the abducted persons: Khan, his two brothers who are also government officers, and one of his nephews.

Though Pakistani Taliban often target security forces in the northwest, such kidnappings are rare.

Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, have a strong presence in the restive northwest. TTP, which is a separate group but allied to the Afghan Taliban, has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

The kidnappings came days after Baloch separatists, who are allies of TTP, shot and killed more than 50 people, including 14 security forces, in one of the deadliest attacks in the southwestern Balochistan province.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Balochistan later Thursday to receive a briefing about ongoing operations against insurgents, officials said.