The Pakistani Taliban said Saturday they are holding around 30
Pakistani boys who were abducted three days ago after being lured
across the border into Afghanistan.
The group's spokesman
Ahsanullah Ahsan said the boys were kidnapped because they belong to a
tribe opposed to the militants. He said the Taliban will decide the
boys' fate and set conditions for a possible release.
Pakistani
officials have said the boys, who are between 12 and 15 years old, were
seized on Thursday in Afghanistan's Kunar province after crossing over
from their villages in the Bajur border region. They were allegedly
lured by a man who invited them to play in a river.
Ahsan did not
say where or how the boys were seized, only that the Taliban are
holding them. He also claimed they are over 20 years of age,
significantly higher than the age given by Pakistani officials.
"They
belong to a tribe that is always up against the militants," Ahsan told
The Associated Press over the phone from an undisclosed location.
Militants often target people from tribes who oppose — or do not support — them.
Also,
large groups of militants from Afghanistan have been attacking security
checkpoints in Pakistan in recent months in deadly cross-border raids.
The Pakistani army has said the attackers are militants who fled the
military's offensives in Pakistan and are using Afghan soil as a safe
haven.
The Taliban announcement on holding the boys appears to
strengthen that claim. It is also an indication of the complexity of
fighting militants along the volatile and porous border.
On
Friday, the top Pakistani official in Bajur, Islam Zeb, said the
militants initially seized around 40 boys but released those under the
age of 12 and allowed them to travel back home. AP
