Weeks after the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended the ceasefire with the Pakistani government and opened hostilities, its militants seized a police station in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and took hostages.
One Pakistani policeman was also killed as a TTP militant opened fire inside the police station before he and fellow militants captured it.
The TTP is also called the Pakistan Taliban. It's an umbrell organisation comprising several militant groups. It was formed in 2007.
"TTP’s stated objectives are the expulsion of Islamabad’s influence in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan, the implementation of a strict interpretation of sharia throughout Pakistan, and the expulsion of Coalition troops from Afghanistan," notes the National Counterterrorism Center of the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
It adds that the TTP also seeks establish an Islamic Calipahte in Pakistan which would require overthrowing of the Pakistani government.
The TTP and the Pakistani government had in June extended the ceasefire indefinitely as they were negotiating for a solution. However, the TTP announced the launch of nationwide operations last month.
Besides the one policeman killed, many others were injured when TTP militants seized a counter-terrorism centre and took some people hostage in the Bannu district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The death happened when one of the militants on Sunday snatched an AK-47 from the police and opened fire. He had been arrested and was being interrogated at Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police station inside the cantonment.
Following the firing, the militant then freed other suspects being held at the building who took control of the compound. They also took several policemen hostage.
The situation is still tense 17 hours after the incident as a military operation is going on. The body of one policeman killed in the shooting has been shifted to a local hospital in Bannu.
Akram Khan Durrani, a former chief minister of the province, and sitting provincial minister Malik Shah Muhammad have reached Bannu to initiate talks with the militants. Both Durrani and Muhammad hail from Bannu.
Militants have demanded the security forces to provide them with a helicopter to reach Afghanistan safely.
Mohammad Iqbal, the District Police Officer (DPO) Bannu, said that there was no attack from outside and one of the militants snatched the rifle from police during interrogation and neutralised the guards deployed at the building, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
“They are in control of the building and we have cordoned off the entire Bannu cantonment,” he added.
The Internet services in the Bannu cantonment have been suspended.
In a video, released by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan militants from inside the CTD compound, the group claimed that nine police personnel were in their captivity and demanded safe passage to Afghanistan by air in exchange for the release of the hostages.
(With PTI inputs)
