Gunmen take students hostage at Pakistan high school
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Security forces have surrounded a high school in northwestern Pakistan where gunmen on Monday took hostage about 30 students and teachers, police said.
Police are negotiating with the gunmen, believed to number five or six, holed up at the village school near the town of Bannu, said district police chief Dar Ali Khattak.
The standoff began after the gunmen abducted a health official in a neighboring district and were chased by police, said Liaqat Khan, another local police official.
The gunmen eventually freed the official but took refuge inside the school, and are now demanding safe passage in return for freeing the students and teachers, he said.