MIRAMSHAH, May 19: Militants kidnapped eight government employees, including five women, in the Miralai tehsil of the North Waziristan Agency on Friday, officials said.

The team, which was conducting Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) in the restive agency, was on their way back to Peshawar from Miramshah when over 100 militants stopped their vehicle at Nowrak near Mirali at about 6.30pm. Members of the Khasaddar force were escorting the employees.

Witnesses said that militants severely beat up members of the Khasaddar force, which was escorting the team and also snatched guns from them. The employees were whisked away to some unknown location in their vehicle.

Fata Security Secretary Arbab Muhammad Arif said in Peshawar that the agency’s political authorities had engaged a jirga to find out whereabouts of the captives.

The Civil Secretariat had started a survey in all seven agencies and six Frontier regions of the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) to collect data about socio-economic needs in the tribal region.

The secretariat had tasked the NWFP Bureau of Statistic to conduct survey.

An official source told Dawn that except North and South Waziristan and Bannu Frontier Region, the exercise had been completed in other tribal areas.

Agencies add: The kidnappers freed several guards accompanying the workers, and they reported the abduction, Fata Security Secretary Arbab Arif said, adding that the militants had made no demands.