Taliban offer prisoner swap, threaten to kill troops

PESHAWAR: Taliban on Tuesday offered the government a prisoner swap in return for 33 missing soldiers, threatening to kill the men if the proposal is rebuffed.

A Taliban spokesman told AFP that authorities should be ready to "face the consequences" if they did not agree to the swap, calling for the details to be worked out in talks with tribal elders in Mohmand district.

Security officials say 33 soldiers are still missing since the Taliban attacked a checkpost in a remote part of Mohmand agency.

Six soldiers were killed in the attack and their bodies were handed over to tribal elders last Thursday, officials said. Another 25 soldiers strayed into Afghanistan after the clashes, but were handed back to Pakistan.

"Thirty-three soldiers are in our custody. We offer the government to exchange them in return for our colleagues," Qari Ikramullah, a spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban in Mohmand told AFP by telephone.

"We are in a state of war, we have no resources to keep them in our prison. The government should accept this offer or face the consequences," he said. "They will have to face death."

Major Fazal-ur-Rehman, a spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps, confirmed that 33 soldiers were missing but said that authorities had received no offer of a swap with the Taliban.

"We have not received any such offer. If we do, then the government will make a decision on the offer," he added.