The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has registered a terror case against “unknown miscreants” for their abduction of 17 workers of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), it emerged on Friday.

Sources said the private PAEC workers were on their way to a project site in the Qaboolkhel area of the district on Thursday morning when their private coach was intercepted by armed assailants near Wanda Painda Khan in Lakki Marwat.

The kidnappers took the hostages to an undisclosed location, later abandoning and setting fire to the coach in a forested area along the Kurram River.

Hours after the incident, videos purportedly showing the abducted workers surfaced on social media, with the workers appealing to the government to meet the militants’ demands to secure their release. Police later rescued eight of the 17 workers.

The first information report (FIR), seen by Dawn.com, was filed a day ago by Lakki Marwat’s Saddar Station House Officer Shakeel Khan with the CTD in Bannu against “unknown miscreants”.

The FIR was registered under sections 120-B (punishment for criminal conspiracy), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 365-A (kidnapping for extorting property, valuable security, etc) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

According to the FIR, the “terrorists” wanted to spread fear and fulfil their “illegal demands”.

It said they ambushed the PAEC employees who were going to Qaboolkhel in a van and forced them to stop, subsequently taking them to Gambila River.

The FIR added that upon reaching the spot after being alerted, the police found the van burning while the employees were missing.

Lakki Marwat has been a hotspot for terrorism and violence as far back as the early 2000s. The region experienced brief respite following security operations, but militancy has once again arisen over the last few years.

Attacks escalated ever since the banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan group broke a ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022 and vowed to target police and security forces.

Earlier this week, two police officials were martyred after unidentified gunmen targeted them in the Jabukhel area of the district. Both policemen were killed on the spot and the terrorists managed to escape on a motorcycle.

In a retaliatory operation, one terrorist commander was gunned down by the law enforcers and villagers.