Militants free trader after getting ransom

PARACHINAR, April 25: Militants have released a trader of Kurram Agency after receiving Rs5.4 million as ransom, sources say. The kidnapped trader, Haji Asghar Hussain Turi, also a former agency councillor, had been kidnapped along with 35 other passengers when militants attacked a convoy at Beggan area of Kurram Agency on March 26. Three passengers had also been killed and two others injured in the attack. The bodies of seven hostages were found in Shaheedan Dhand area near Afghan border last week. Relatives said that Mr Turi remained in custody of militants for at least one month. He reached home after the family paid a ransom of Rs5.4 million to militants. Narrating his ordeal, Mr Turi said that he was going in the convoy from Peshawar to Parachinar when militants attacked it near Beggan. He said that he jumped off the vehicle, ran away and hid in the nearby fields but local people captured him. He said that he was carrying Rs600,000 cash with him at the time of attack on the convoy. He said that local people, who captured him, snatched the amount from him and later handed him over to Taliban. The trader said that during custody militants had chained him in a room and treated him badly. He said that he had no information about the other hostages. —Correspondent