PESHAWAR, April 6: Bandits robbed at gunpoint a bank in Wana, South Waziristan agency, on Tuesday and took away Rs15 million, eyewitnesses said.

A witness said that about a dozen armed men barged into the United Bank branch in the Mirzalam market, held the staff at gunpoint and took away the cash from the lockers.

"The armed men overpowered the bank's security personnel and made the other staff members hostage. They collected the amount and fired in the air as they fled," the witness said. Federally Administered Tribal Areas' security chief Brig Mahmood Shah said he did not know the amount stolen from the bank.

He said the local administration had established checkpoints on the routes around the town and started efforts to arrest the robbers. Witnesses said the armed men, who came in a car and a pick-up truck, stormed the bank at about 11.45am and snatched the light weapons from the security guards. They said personnel of the tribal Khassadar Force were present in the area but they did not take any action.