PESHAWAR: Pakistani authorities on Monday opened talks to try to resolve a stand-off with militants who were holding several security personnel hostage after seizing control of a counter-terrorism facility in the country’s northwest a day earlier.

Security forces have surrounded the highly-fortified military cantonment that houses the interrogation centre in the town of Bannu, where around 20 fighters from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - an umbrella group of Islamist and sectarian groups - are holed up. According to a provincial government spokesman, the militants were demanding safe passage to Afghanistan.

“We are in negotiations with the central leaders of the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan,” said Mohammad Ali Saif, a spokesman for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government.

He said the authorities were yet to receive a response from the Pakistani Taliban, adding that relatives of the militants and local tribal elders had also been involved in starting talks.

Militants seize counter-terrorism centre in Bannu

At least one counter-terrorism official was killed by the militants, who according to authorities had snatched weapons off their guards while under interrogation.

Several significant TTP members were present at the centre, Saif said.

He did not say how many security personnel were being held hostage. An intelligence officer told Reuters, however, that there were six hostages - four from the military and two from counter-terrorism.