PESHAWAR, Jan 31: Unidentified armed men kidnapped 13 persons including three Pesco officials in Badhber area on the outskirts of Peshawar on Tuesday, police said. They said that the linemen of Peshawar Electric Supply Company and labourers were repairing a power pylon at Khushal Khwar area when armed men picked them.

An official said that a tower had been blown up by militants in the area few days ago and Pesco officials were repairing it to restore power supply but militants did not let them do so.

However, DSP Sahibzada Sajjad said that the number of kidnapped persons was 12 as a tractor driver, Juma Khan, was later released by the kidnappers. He said that efforts were underway to recover them at the earliest.

The official claimed that Lashkar-i-Islam was involved in the crime as the area was close to Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency and militants could easily cross the border. He said that the Pesco staff had not sought any kind of security from local police otherwise they would have protected them.

Another source said that some time ago militants had kidnapped five Wapda officials from Bara but political administration failed to recover them.