Militant prisoners take two Pak troops hostage as Peshawar gunbattle rages on

PESHAWAR - The gun battle between security forces and heavily armed attackers, which broke out early on Saturday morning in Peshawar, rages on with reports of at least two soldiers being held captive by militant prisoners inside a building near the US consulate in the provincial capital.

Earlier media reports said that unknown gunmen had opened fire at about 5 a.m. near the US consulate. Later, it emerged that the gunmen were militant prisoners, who were detained for investigation at an army detention center near the US consulate.

Army spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas said the militant prisoners managed to overpower two guards while they were being interrogated and later occupied the building inside the detention center and took both the guards hostage.

Security forces have cordoned off the area and called in helicopters to monitor the situation.

No casualty has been reported in the terror strike so far, as the authorities are revealing little about the incident even after 12 hours since the militants first struck. (ANI)