LANDI KOTAL: Unidentified gunmen abducted at least 17 young tribesmen from a picnic spot in Landi Kotal on Sunday.

Khasadar officials while confirming the incident said that some local youth from Adalkhad and Gagra villages had gone to Yakha Cheena, Enzaro Naw picnic spot close to the Afghan border early on Sunday morning but did not return to their homes till late in the evening.

The officials said that relatives of the missing youth reported the matter to them after one of the abducted persons managed to escape from the abductors and reached home early on Monday.

They quoted the escaped person as saying that a group of around 12 armed men held them hostage while they were having midday meals. Later, they were taken to an unknown place. The officials said that they had started a search operation to locate and recover the missing men, while expressing apprehension that they might be taken across the border.-Correspondent