BANNU: Eleven personnel of the Frontier Constabulary were kidnapped and a police constable and three other people were injured when militants attacked a checkpost in the Bannu Frontier Region on Tuesday.

Sources said that the incident took place in Azad Mandi area at about 12:30am.

The assailants fired rockets and lobbed hand-grenades at the post manned jointly by paramilitary forces and police.

Local people said that about 120 militants had taken part in the attack.

They surrounded the post and forced the security personnel to surrender their weapons.

An official told Dawn that 12 personnel had been kidnapped, but an injured soldier, identified as Jan Alam, was released on Wednesday.

He said the militants handed over the soldier to a bus driver who brought him to a police station in the Bakakhel area.

Militants also took away 23 AK-47 rifles, one light machinegun, 72,000 rounds of ammunition, communication tools and other equipment from the checkpost. An armoured personnel carrier parked near the post was damaged.

AFP adds: Local security chief Amir Badshah said the militants opened fire on the post and injured a policeman and a soldier before whisking away 12 paramilitary troops to an unknown place. “They were local Taliban,” he said.