PESHAWAR: Eight out of 17 people who were kidnapped on Thursday while working on “atomic and mining projects” in Lakki Marwat, a highly volatile district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), were rescued after due to joint efforts of tribal elders amid a search operation by police and security officials, a police official said. 
Lakki Marwat is situated on the edge of the tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has frequently targeted police precincts and checkpoints, killing several law enforcement personnel in the past.
Pakistani authorities have often accused the Afghan administration in Kabul of aiding TTP militants in their cross-border attacks, an allegation Afghanistan denies.
Speaking to Arab News, Shahid Marwat, the district’s police spokesperson, said armed men kidnapped “17 civilians,” including the driver of the team working on the mining project, from the Dara Tang Road on Thursday morning. He said eight workers were released after joint efforts by tribal elders amid a search operation by police and security officials in the dense forest.
“Three of the eight released persons were slightly injured while they were in the custody of captors,” Marwat said. “Police and security forces encircled various locations of kidnappers, forcing them to escape and leaving behind eight kidnapped personnel.”
He said efforts were underway to secure the release of the other nine workers. 
Marwat did not share further details, but the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), a government agency responsible for the nuclear energy program, operates mining projects in various parts of the country.
Lakki Marwat has been a hotspot of militant activity that witnessed unprecedented protests last September, when police officers, joined by civil society members and tribal elders, staged sit-ins and blocked the Indus Highway.
The demonstrations followed a spate of militant attacks that killed several policemen, prompting members of the force to demand greater involvement and autonomy in counterterrorism operations.
While no group has officially claimed responsibility for the incident, some media outlets reported the TTP acknowledged its involvement.
Riaz Bangash, a Peshawar-based expert on the region’s security affairs, told Arab News the incident had raised serious questions about the state’s writ in the province.
“The southern districts of KP are totally neglected and are at the mercy of criminals amid vanishing government writ,” he said. 
“This is despite the fact that at this time all three top provincial officials, including the chief minister, governor, and inspector general of police, belong to these districts. Still, the region is in chaos.”
Bangash emphasized the importance of avoiding politicization of the region’s security issues and urged all political parties to unite and work out a joint strategy to address the “growing insecurity.”
This is not the first time such kidnappings have taken place in the region.
Last June, unidentified gunmen abducted 13 laborers from the southern Tank district of KP, who were later released. In November, armed men also abducted seven policemen from a check post in the northwestern district of Bannu, who were released after mediation by tribal elders.
So far, the government has not issued a statement about the incident.