PESHAWAR / LANDI KOTAL, Sept 3: Five employees of the City Development and Municipal Department were kidnapped from the site of the Regi Lalma Model Town on Monday. Three of them were got freed later in the day after an armed encounter in which one captor was killed.

The officials were inspecting the under-construction town on the outskirts of Peshawar near the boundary of Khyber Agency when they were taken away by the kidnappers.

One of the captors was taken into custody after the shootout between the kidnappers and the Khasadar force in Khyber Agency.

Capital City Police chief Abdul Majeed Marwat told Dawn that an operation had been launched in the Khyber Agency to hunt the kidnappers.

The killed accused was identified as Khanai Zakha Khel.

The kidnappers were passing through the Sakhi Pul area in Jamrud tehsil when they came across the Khasadar Force. Three of the officials were freed after the shootout but the other two were taken away by the kidnappers.

One of the gangsters, identified as Khan Said, was taken into custody in the injured condition and a vehicle left by the kidnappers was seized.

Those freed were identified as deputy director Noor Shah Jehan, assistant director Aziz Khan and driver Mohammad Saeed.

The director of the Regi Lalma scheme, Ikramullah Gandapur and deputy director Zahid Khan were still being held by the kidnappers. An official of the Khyber Agency said it was a case of kidnapping for ransom.

Development work on the Regi Lalma site, which begun three years ago, has hit snags several times due to controversy over the land. Residents of the Regi village said they had not been paid adequate amount for their land.