Abdullah Mehsood, Pakistani tribal commander and leader of the Islamic militants who kidnapped two Chinese engineers, makes a speech to the media in the Chagmalai area of the South Waziristan in this Reuters video image taken October 11, 2004. (Reuters)

The former Taliban commander and chief of the militants in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area, Abdullah Mehsud, has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers and he threatened to kill them if the government did not release the militants arrested by security forces.

"My warriors have kidnapped the two Chinese engineers," local English-language newspaper Daily Times Monday quoted Abdullah Mehsud as saying.

He warned security forces not to attempt to rescue the hostage, saying it would bring harm to them, the report of Daily Times said.

"The kidnappers have demanded the release of all foreign militants in government custody," the report quoted an anonymous intelligence official as saying. He said the captors had given the government only a day to fulfill their demand.

Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said the kidnappers had not yet given a list indicating whom they wanted released. "We will decide when we are given the list," he told local Geo TV.

Pakistan's Northwest Frontier province Home Secretary Abdul Karim Qasuriya said a local Mehsud tribal jirga was negotiating with the kidnappers. "The jirga expects a peaceful resolution to the crisis," the home secretary said. But Brig. Mehmood Shah, security chief of tribal area, admitted that the talks had not yielded positive results. "There is no change in the situation," he said.

Two Chinese engineers, Wang Ende and Wang Peng, were kidnapped by five gunmen Saturday near Jandala in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan. They were working on a water dam and a canal there for China National Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Group Corporation.

Pakistan renews pledge to rescue

The Pakistani government reiterated Monday that it would do its utmost to rescue two Chinese engineers held hostage by militants.

In an emergent meeting with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar on Monday, China's ambassador to Pakistan Zhang Chunxiang said China was very much concerned about the kidnapping and urged Pakistan to take effective measures to guarantee the safety of the hostages and keep the Chinese side informed of the latest developments.

Khokhar said President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz paid high attention to the issue.

He said Pakistan would spare no effort in rescuing the two hostages, adding that President Musharraf had ordered the interior minister and the local governor to handle the crisis.

Negotiations for the hostages' release are still under way and the Chinese embassy to Islamabad is closely following the issue.

Leader freed from Guantanamo

Pakistan officials said the kidnappers were taking orders from Mehsud, a former inmate of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, who now heads tribesmen fighting alongside al Qaeda fighters in South Waziristan.

They said Abdullah was demanding an end to military operations in South Waziristan, in which hundreds have died since March, in return for freeing of the men.

Abdullah, who is not with the kidnappers, spoke to a group of local journalists on Sunday in Spinkai Raghzai, an area near Chagmalai. He said the Chinese would not be safe until they and the kidnappers reached him.

"Until they come to me, we cannot guarantee their safety," he said.

Abdullah, who is in his 20s, was among 26 inmates freed from Guantanamo Bay in March after the Pentagon said they were no longer a threat to the United States and had no intelligence value.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said on Geo Television there were four kidnappers, three of whom appeared Afghan. He said they had links to al Qaeda and the local tribes and had demanded the release of comrades held by the military.

China has urged Islamabad to do all it can to rescue the engineers and also called on it to increase security for their co-workers.

In May, three Chinese technicians working on a deep sea port construction project were killed and nine wounded in a car bomb attack in the southern Pakistani city of Gawadar.

The semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan has long been notorious for kidnappings, but it has also become a refuge for al-Qaeda linked militants, including Chechens, Uzbeks and Arabs, who have been protected by local tribesmen.

US officials believe Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders may be hiding somewhere along the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Source: Xinhua/agencies