KOHAT/KALAYA, Dec 21: Unidentified persons kidnapped a senior official of a foreign oil exploring company in Hangu district on Tuesday while militants abducted at least 10 tribesmen in Orakzai Agency. Officials said that Fayaz Khattak, a senior official of Hungarian company MOL, was travelling near an exploration point when unidentified armed men kidnapped him along with his driver, Said Kalam, and vehicle.

Police found the vehicle abandoned in Chamba Gul area. Hangu police told Dawn by telephone that a police team was inspecting the scene form where the vehicle was recovered.

DIG Mohammad Masood Afridi told this correspondent that a team headed by Hangu district police officer had been constituted to investigate the incident.

To a question, he said that Taliban were not involved in the case and a group of local proclaimed offenders seemed to have kidnapped the official and his driver for ransom. He hoped that the kidnapped persons would be recovered soon. “The vehicle has automatic lock system but police are trying to open it and bring it back. The FIR of kidnapping case will be registered upon the arrival of MOL officials and the police team,” he added.

The MOL had huge stakes in the region where it was engaged in successful explorations of oil and gas for more than a decade in Tall Block. It operates four oil and gas wells -- Manzali-1, Manzali-2 and Manzali-3 and Makori-1-- in Tall block of Karak district where it started its operations in 1999.

In the second incident, militants kidnapped at least 10 tribesmen in central tehsil area of Orakzai Agency and shifted them to an undisclosed location on Monday.

Sources said that militants attacked a vehicle of local tribesmen, who had recently returned to the area from an IDP camp, and whisked away at least 10 people. Officials said that the kidnapping incident had been reported to the higher authorities.

Mohammad Nazir, Noor Khan and other elders of Meshti tribe told journalists that the tribesmen would be forced to go back to IDP camps if government failed to provide them security. They said that Meshti tribesmen would be compelled to once again leave their homes as militants were continuously attacking them.

The leader of Orakzai Qaumi Lashkar, Salamat Orakzai, said that security forces were playing the role of silent spectator in the face of continuous attacks on tribesmen, who returned from IDP camps. Militants had incurred huge losses on the lashkar, which was formed at the behest of security forces, but government failed to give them any support, he added.