KOHAT, Oct 25 Kidnappers have been making regular strikes in the district as eight people, two of them boys, were kidnapped for ransom during the last four days.

The number of people abducted from different parts of Kohat during the past six months has reached to 46.

The victims include security personnel and government employees.

According to sources, the kidnappers had taken away six local businessmen and two boys from Kohat and one trader from Hangu earlier this week. One of the kidnap victims was released after his relatives reportedly paid Rs5 million ransom to the kidnappers.

Relatives of a driver, Naseem, who was kidnapped for ransom, said that they were collecting donations to arrange for Rs800,000 to ensure his safe release.

The two boys, Atif and Saqib, were abducted from the Tanda Resort on Wednesday last, while a businessman, Imdad Ali, went missing from Dhodha road. In both cases, the families had reportedly received calls to pay ransom for their release.

Police started hushing up the issue after three strikes by the kidnappers. Sources said that two more people had been missing, apparently kidnapped, from Hangu road, namely Hamayun and Adil, whereas one Bilawar Khan was abducted from Janglekhel area.

People in the region, they said, mostly prefer to stay indoors after dark for security reasons and the increasing incidents of kidnapping for ransom. Sense of insecurity had increased among the business community after known businessmen and MPA Qalbe Hassan and Union Nazim Syed Mahtabul Hassan wound up their businesses and shifted to Peshawar following threats of kidnapping.

Officials said that two to three criminal groups, who had their hideouts at the border of Hangu and Kohat with Orakzai Agency, were involved in the crime. “Now, they keep the kidnapped people here instead of taking them to Bara and Khyber Agency as they used to do in the past. The groups pose to be Taliban affiliates,” an official said.