Peshawar, Nov 11 : Pro-Taliban militants took a major, a captain and five soldiers of Pakistan Army hostage in Kabbal tehsil of Swat District in the North West Frontier Province.

Officials in Swat said some militants attacked a camp of the armed forces and picked up eight soldiers towards unknown destination. The abducted army men included a Major, a captain and two junior commissioned officers.

Militant commander, Akbar Hussain, who is in charge of the tehsil, said that the soldiers were travelling in an army vehicle when they were intercepted at a checkpoint near Kabbal and taken hostage.

Hussain said that a secret file and a map marking militants’ positions had been seized from the soldiers and they had been taken to Imam Dheri, the headquarters of Maulana Fazalullah.

Sources said that the soldiers wearing plain clothes were going from the Chakdarra base camp to Kabbal when the militants signalled them to stop but the driver sped away.

However, the vehicle was stopped at the next checkpoint and the soldiers were asked to surrender.

Militant commander of Khwazakhela, Maulana Mohammad Alam, made an announcement in a mosque in Madyan, asking people to grow beards and offer prayers regularly.

He asked women to observe proper purdah, warning that otherwise they would be punished, the Dawn reported.

Sources said the maulana set a three-day deadline for the people to abide by religious laws, after which the militants would punish the violators. (ANI)