Peshawar: Army's operation ends successfully, hostages released

Army's operation against the terrorists has been successfull and the hostages have been released. The terrorists have surrendered themselves. The militarys standoff with the terrorists continued for 11 hours as the firing inside the building was erupted at 6:00am today. An insurgency-like situation was created when some detained terrorists overwhelmed their guards and took them hostage at a sensitive agencys building adjacent to American Consulate in Peshawar, the army said on Saturday. Some of the terrorists who were kept in a building for interrogations overpowered their two sentries during interrogations, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told Dunya News. The militants, who were being investigated by a law enforcement agency, also took control of the building located a short distance from the US Consulate and an office of the Intelligence Bureau.Earlier reports had suggested that a group of militants had entered the high security area and engaged security forces in a gun battle.However, Abbas clarified that no terror attack had occurred and that no militants had entered the area. Security men sealed off the Cantt Road in wake of the attack which occurred near US Consulate building and also started search operation across the metropolis. There have been no casualty reports. Security matters are Greek to Rehman Malik: Ikram Sehgal Senior analyst Ikram Sehgal, while talking to Dunya News said that a separate commission should be set up to oversee the counter-terrorism activities. He deplored that Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik is not aware even of the ABC of security issues, adding that the Minister would hold a press conference on the issue soon and would give some clichd statements. Militants taking advantage of floods: Mian Iftikhar Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar has warned that the terrorist activities would rise if a coordinated counter-terrorism strategy were not hammered out. Dubbing them as beasts, Iftikhar said that terrorists hideouts should be targeted to eliminate them completely. He maintained that the militants are taking advantage of the post-flood situation. He called upon the global community to help Pakistan in this hour of need.