KARAK/LANDI KOTAL, Jan 9: A son of the Awami National Party’s district president was kidnapped in Karak on Wednesday night and a marble factory owner was abducted in Jamrud on Thursday.

Taleem Khan, the Karak ANP leader, said on Friday that his son, Waseem Abid, a fourth-year student in the Government Degree College, Latamber, was kidnapped by some people near his house in the Latamber village on the Bannu-Kohat road.

He said he had no enmity with any one, adding that it could be the handiwork of militants who were bent upon pressurising ANP leaders across the province or his son might have been kidnapped for ransom. The kidnapping incident in Jamrud occured just a day after the Khyber Agency political administration lifted the week-long curfew in the region.

Sources said Mohammad Qasim, the factory owner, was picked up from his showroom in the Shah Kas area of Jamrud by unidentified gunmen.

The Jamrud administration confirmed the kidnapping and said a case had been registered against unidentified people.

No body has so far claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

Armed gangs have kidnapped more than two dozen people, including government employees and Afghan nationals, from the main Peshawar-Torkham highway during the last two and a half months.

The administration, however, has failed to recover any of the victims or arrest the kidnappers.

Meanwhile, security forces increased their patrolling in the Ali Masjid area in Jamrud after reports of militants gathering in the locality. The administration has established additional checkposts of Khasadar and Khyber Rifles personnel in the area.—Correspondent