October 10, 2008	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1429

LANDI KOTAL, Oct 9: Two kidnappers were allegedly shot dead by their captives during a scuffle here on Thursday, officials said.

Official sources in Landi Kotal told Dawn that three residents of Parachinar region hailing from Turi tribe were on their way to Peshawar from Kurram via Afghanistan in a taxi. And when they reached near Ali Masjid here on the Torkhum Highway they were intercepted by a gang of kidnappers riding in two vehicles who abducted them on gun point.

Officials said that when the abducted men resisted one of the vehicles of their captors overturned, giving the former a chance to snatch a rifle from one of their abductors and opened fire on them. The firing resulted in the killing of two kidnappers who belonged to Ghundi village of Jamrud tehsil.

Two of the kidnapped persons managed to take shelter in a nearby house of a tribesman. However, the gang members got hold of one of the passenger and took him to an unspecified location.

The kidnapping of the Turi tribesmen travelling through the Khyber Pass has increased during the last few weeks.

Surprisingly, all the incidents have occurred near the Ali Masjid where paramilitary and Khasaddar forces have been deployed. The political administration and law-enforcement agencies have yet to arrest a single culprit and have failed to provide security to the Turi tribesmen.

A couple of days ago three students belonging to the Turi tribe were brutally murdered by their captors in the Khyber region when they were coming from Parachinar to Peshawar via Afghanistan. These students coming for admission in Peshawar were also kidnapped from the Ali Masjid. —Correspondent