LANDI KOTAL, Nov 23: Four teachers of a private school and three health workers were kidnapped in Bara on Thursday after a team administered anti-polio drops to hundreds of children under the protection of security forces, sources said on Saturday.

A relative of a kidnapped teacher told Dawn that he was not sure about the identity of the kidnappers, but believed that the kidnapping was related to the vaccination campaign conducted in their school.

He said no clue about the teachers’ whereabouts had been found nor had anyone claimed responsibility for kidnapping them.

A health worker said he had heard that unidentified gunmen had kidnapped 10 teachers of a private school in Speen Qabar area after he and other vaccinators had administered anti-polio drops to children there.

He said he was not sure about the motive behind the kidnapping. “We were escorted to the area by security forces and the schoolteachers had nothing to do with the vaccination campaign,” he said.

Political Agent Mutahir Zeb and Assistant Political Agent Mohammad Nasir did not respond to queries put by Dawn about the kidnapping but Political Tehsildar Shakil Khan dispelled the impression that the incident was related to the anti-polio campaign.

He said he had received information that the kidnapping had been caused by a dispute between the teachers and the kidnappers.

Announcements about vaccination were made on loudspeakers from local mosques, he said and added the vaccinators had not faced any resistance from any quarter. Shakil Khan said a jirga had been engaged to trace the missing teachers.

He said the polio campaign continued in parts of Bara on Saturday as health workers told him that they had administered anti-polio drops to at least 1,578 children in Meel Wat area and hundreds of other children in Alamgudar and Malikdin Khel areas.

AFP adds: Tribesmen were negotiating on Saturday to seek release of seven polio workers kidnapped by a militant group from the Khyber tribal district, officials said.

Authorities said the workers were kidnapped by Lashkar-i-Islam group.

Two government officials in Khyber Agency said the workers included four teachers of a private school, a male nurse and two volunteers.

“A tribal jirga has started negotiations with Lashkar-i-Islam people. We are hopeful for the early release of polio workers,” a senior government official in Bara said.

The second official said the abduction occurred in broad daylight when the workers were busy vaccinating the children.

“Now the jirga is requesting them to release the abducted workers,” he said.