Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari
Posted on Tue, Jun. 2, 2009 (click title to entry - thank you)
By Ashraf Khan and Nahal Toosi
Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Taliban extremists ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying at least 400 students, staff, and relatives from a boys' school yesterday, taking dozens - possibly hundreds - captive in northwestern Pakistan, officials said.
The army said today that its troops had rescued 79 of the captives, with at least one person still missing.
The brazen abduction was part of a string of extremist actions in Pakistan's tribal belt that the army believes is partly aimed at distracting the military from its offensive against the Taliban in the Swat Valley. The extremists were said to have rockets, grenades, and automatic weapons.
Details were still emerging early today about what exactly happened in North Waziristan. Originally, as many as 500 people were believed to have been abducted, but about 200 students were later found to be safe. Army Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said a group of 80 had been held in North Waziristan's Goryam area....
