PESHAWAR: Authorities have asked tribal elders to help rescue the personnel of Levies force who appear to have been kidnapped by the Taliban, a government official said.    

The 23 personnel went missing Thursday when militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons attacked two posts before dawn in Frontier Region Peshawar.

Two policemen were reported killed in the attacks.

Government administrator Naveed Akbar Khan said Friday that authorities had planned meetings with the local tribal elders.

Tribal law stipulates that the elders could be punished for attacks that occurred in their areas. Security forces have also launched an operation to try to recover the kidnapped personnel.

On Thursday, a Taliban spokesman for Dara Adamkhel, Mohammad Afridi, had told Dawn newspaper by phone that his group had carried out the attack.

Afridi had claimed that eight personnel had been killed and 23 had been kidnapped.