KOHAT, July 13: Militants handed over to a jirga on Sunday the bodies of 15 personnel of the Frontier Constabulary who were killed in an ambush in Zargari area on Saturday.Two injured FC personnel, initially presumed killed, had escaped after the attack.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, meanwhile, renewed its threat to kill kidnapped government employees if the operation in Hangu was not stopped and the detained militants were not released.

“The situation can get out of control if TTP’s demands are not met,” Tehrik’s spokesman Maulvi Omar told journalists on phone. He said the Taliban would take action if their demands were not accepted.

He said 29 government employees, among them 12 paramilitary soldiers and six policemen, were in Taliban’s custody.

The militants did not allow removal of the bodies from the area till the burial of two Taliban killed in the clash.

The bodies were retrieved with the help of Zargari tribe’s chief Malik Haji Ria Khan, Hangu District Naib Nazim Gul Kareem, former MNA Maulana Siddque and other elders.

Injured soldier Atta reached his fort in Zargari on Sunday morning and driver Amir Abdullah was provided shelter by local people and later taken to a hospital in Hangu in critical condition.

The bodies were sent to their native areas. The body of FC’s Assistant District Officer Kareem Khan was taken to the force’s headquarters in Peshawar.

Military sources said a large contingent had been sent to the area to trace the killers. But local elders believed they had left the region.

Our Peshawar Bureau adds: The FC contingent which was ambushed by militants showed exemplary bravery by refusing to lay down arms, according to a statement issued by the Frontier Constabulary here.

In the clash, militant commander Razim Khan was killed along with his two accomplices from South Waziristan, which sparked the fierce fighting. The contingent was led by Assistant District Officer Karim Khan.

“During the encounter, 15 FC jawans were martyred, while one reached the FC post in Shinwari. FC driver Amir Abdullah was under treatment in the civil hospital in Ghiljo, Orakzai Agency,” it said.

It said an Afghan man, Syed Mehmood, was the mastermind of the incidents in Hangu district. He resided in Ghalo Cheena near Zargari and had organised a large gang of miscreants who carried out attacks on security forces.

Anwarullah Khan contributed to this report from Bajaur Agency.