Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for holding up to 25 boys hostage. Pakistani officials said on 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. Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said they held the boys, and their fate would be decided by the militants from Bajaur, according to a report of Reuters. Security officials said they learned of the kidnappings when the parents of the children, members of a tribe that inhabits the frontier area, informed them of the abductions on Friday. A Pakistani cabinet minister said the interior ministry was in contact with the Afghan officials on the issue. "The incident happened on their side and, as per law, it is responsibility of the Afghan government to ensure their safe return to Pakistan," Shaukat Ullah, federal minister for States and Frontier Regions, told Reuters.
