WANA, Sept 1: Militants are reported to have presented a set of conditions to a tribal jirga during their first round of talks in Laddah, South Waziristan Agency, for releasing over 150 soldiers taken hostage by them on Thursday.

Sources privy to the talks said the 50-member jirga held a marathon session with the militants on Saturday and returned to Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan, with a set of demands.

Officials said the jirga, headed by Senator Saleh Shah, would on Sunday brief political agent Hussainzada Khan about talks it had held with the militants.

The sources said that one of the militants’ conditions was the release of 10 of their men by the government.

The militants were reported to have presented the same set of conditions to a jirga for the release 18 paramilitary soldiers and one official of the political administration who had been set free on Aug 28.

Zulfiqar Mahsud, a spokesman for the militants, told Dawn by phone on Friday night that they had some conditions and would table these before the jirga. However, he declined to specify the conditions.

Zulfiqar, a purported spokesman for militant commander Abdullah Mahsud, had claimed responsibility for kidnapping the soldiers, who were going from Wana to their base in Laddah.

He claimed that some 300 soldiers had been made hostage.

SUICIDE ATTACK: A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into an army check post in Jandola, Tank district, on Saturday, wounding six troops.

The soldiers were establishing a checkpoint on Wana-Tank road.