Security forces on Saturday recovered all the four abducted employees of a private petroleum exploration company and killed four terrorists in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in North Waziristan, a tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
Two employees and one security personnel were injured in the operation.
Police told The Express Tribune that the four men, who had been kidnapped from the outskirts of Miranshah on Friday, were kept in a house by terrorists in Khatti village.
“Last night security forces were informed about the presence of terrorists in a house with the abductees after which the village was cordoned off and a door-to-door search was initiated,” a police official said, adding that all four terrorists were killed in the IBO after they refused to surrender and opened fire on security forces.
The two abductees, who were injured in the operation, have been shifted to the hospital in Miranshah. Security forces had taken the bodies of the slain terrorists in their custody and started investigation.
The petroleum exploration company had been engaged in oil and gas exploration in Speenwam and Shawa areas of North Waziristan. Last year, it had discovered gas reserves in Shawa.
The firm is also exploring oil and gas reserves in Razmak and Miranshah.
This is not the first time that employees of an oil and gas exploration companies were kidnapped by militants. In February 2021, four workers of the same organisation were abducted and later released, reportedly, after payment of extortion money.
“In 2021, terrorists carried out five attacks on the company employees in which three people were killed. Last year, four people were killed in two attacks,” the police official said.
Background
In October 2018, four workers of an oil and gas exploration company were shot dead after being abducted from Speenwam.
The workers – including a foreman, driver, an FC security guard and a labourer – belonged to Maripur Oil and Gas Exploration Company. They were shot by unidentified armed men and left to die in a vehicle which was also set on fire. The workers were abducted while on their way to a field.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2023.
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