Pakistan government workers seized

Eight government development workers have been abducted in a remote region in the north of Pakistan, a senior official said.
The workers, including five women, were taken on Friday evening while aid project sites in North Waziristan, where the government signed a controversial peace deal last September.

"More than 100 militants ambushed their vehicle and took the eight officials with them," Arbab Arif, security chief for the tribal region, told Reuters news agency.
Several guards accompanying the group were freed by the kidnappers and reported the abduction.

"We have engaged tribal elders of the area for their release," Arif said.
The government workers were travelling from Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier province, when they were seized near the town of Mir Ali.
Many foreign al-Qaeda fighters took refuge in North and South Waziristan after US-led forces forced the Taliban out of Afghanistan in 2001.
Last year the government reached a deal with the ethnic Pashtun tribes in the region reviving their traditional powers in an attempt to isolate foreign fighters.