ISLAMABAD: The army denounced on Monday the killing of 23 Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers by the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as a “highly provocative act”.

The Mohmand agency chapter of the TTP had claimed on Sunday to have killed FC soldiers, who were in its captivity since 2010. It said that the killings were in reaction to deaths of TTP militants in detention of law enforcement agencies.

The army statement constituted official confirmation that some paramilitary troops were in custody of the TTP since 2010.

It belatedly deplored Thursday’s attack on a police van in Karachi in which 13 policemen were killed.

“Killing of 13 policemen in Karachi and FC soldiers by terrorists in their captivity are blatant acts of terror,” the statement said.

The government’s chief negotiator in talks with the TTP, Irfan Siddiqi, had earlier admitted in an interview with BBC that the government had avoided condemning the Karachi attack for the sake of saving the process of talks, which were already in jeopardy because of the recurring violence.

The army statement rejected the TTP claim that its fighters were being killed in detention.

“Killing of terrorists in the custody of security forces… is a baseless allegation and a mere propaganda to justify their (Taliban’s) dastardly acts of terror,” it said.