Watch | TTP abducts 18 Pakistani nuclear engineers, they plead for help

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has captured 18 Pakistani nuclear engineers in Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to a report.

A video of engineers has surfaced that purportedly shows them in custody. The engineers are said to be requesting their government to rescue them in the video.

Pakistan considers the TTP a terrorist organisation and holds it responsible for hundreds of acts of terror across Pakistan that have killed scores of people in recent years. While the TTP has presence in the restive northwestern Pakistan, it has its bases in Afghanistan from where it mounts cross-border attacks inside Pakistan. While it is separate from the Taliban group that rules Afghanistan, the two groups are aligned and TTP enjoys Afghan’s Taliban’s patronage.

The presence of TTP in Afghanistan and its continued attacks have worsened the Pakistan-Taliban relationship, leading to several rounds of cross-border conflict between the two sides.

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As for the video of the engineers, there has so far been no official word. Firstpost has not independently verified the authenticity of the video.

In a post on X, Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute Director at The Wilson Center, said the incident highlights the fact that the security situation in Pakistan “keep getting worse”.

Today, the TTP abducted 17 people working on a mining project linked to Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission (8 reportedly were rescued).
This comes soon after the TTP warned it will start targeting companies run by the military.
Pakistan's security crisis keeps getting worse.

— Michael Kugelman (@MichaelKugelman) January 9, 2025

There have long been concerns around Pakistani nuclear programme. Critics have said that owing to the presence and influence of Islamist groups in Pakistan, and factionalism within the Pakistani security apparatus, there is no real civilian control of nuclear weapons. Moreover, as Islamist elements, including terrorist groups, are believed to be embedded with the state, critics have said for a long time that there is a real risk for these Islamist groups controlling Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.