The Pakistani military has rescued 80 students and teachers taken captive by Taliban fighters in the country's northwest tribal region.
The military launched a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday in a bid to end the hostage drama, military and government officials said.
Major-General Athar Abbas said that 80 people, 71 of them students, were recovered by forces in the Goryam area as their convoy of vehicles was heading towards South Waziristan.
"Everyone is safe and sound," Abbas said.
The release of the hostages was confirmed by Sardar Abbas Rind, chief of the administration in the northwestern town of Bannu.
Earlier, officials had said police were negotiating with the Taliban via tribal elders for the captives.
[More]Comment:
First the Afghan Army (not NATO) rescued those forty hostages in Khost a few weeks ago, now the Pakistani Army rescues eighty hostages in Waziristan, and the Taliban isn't able to take out a single one, as you would normally expect. Not as strategically important as the reclamation of Mingora, but still perhaps indicative of a larger process.
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