Pakistani Taliban claim kidnapping up to 25 boys

[bemildred]

Source: Reuters

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters)- Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for holding up to 25 boys hostage as punishment for tribesmen who supported the military in the country's troubled northwest.

Pakistani officials said Friday militants in Afghanistan kidnapped the boys after they mistakenly crossed the border while on an outing in the border tribal region of Bajaur on Wednesday.

A Pakistani Taliban spokesman said they held the boys, and their fate would be decided by the militants from Bajaur.

"We have kidnapped them as their parents and tribal elders are helping the government and are fighting against us," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters from an undisclosed location.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/03/us-pakistan-afghanistan-kidnap-idUSTRE7820KO20110903

[secondwind]

1. this doesn't bode well. I read that the Taliban hung an 8-yr-old boy not too long ago, in

retaliation for something his father did .......... something innocuous like not giving them what they wanted, or whatever. Pretty savage people, they are.

[brooklynite]

2. I'm sure they have a sound theological basis for their decision...

...which will no doubt rally the public to their cause.

[plumbob]

3. What? The CIA couldn't come up with a firm number?

"Ah, tell 'em up to 25, but not more, and not equal to."