MIRAMSHAH, May 23: Militants released on Wednesday nine government employees, six of them women, who had been kidnapped on May 18 while they were going to Miramshah to conduct a survey.

They were freed in Bannu’s Bakakhel area, adjacent to the North Waziristan Agency.

According to Zair Gul Wazir, one of the freed hostages, the kidnappers left them near a police station in the Bakakhel area at around 4am.

Talking to journalists in Peshawar, Mr Wazir said that their vehicle was forced to stop at a blockade manned by nearly 50 armed men.

“They asked us to get down and blindfolded us,” said Zafarullah Malik, another freed hostage. The men and women were then taken to a place where they were kept for five days.

According to Mr Malik, the militants complained that they were not consulted by the government on development works launched in the area. He said that the militants had kidnapped them to protest against the policies of the NWFP governor and the agency’s political administration. He also said that they had been treated well by the kidnappers.

After their release, the group was kept in a Peshawar-based house for a few hours for debriefing.