Six killed in Pakistan Taliban attack on Hungarian energy firm

Six security personnel were killed in an overnight siege by dozens of Pakistan Taliban militants on a Hungarian-owned oil and gas exploration site, police and the energy firm said on Tuesday.  

About 50 fighters attacked a site owned by the Budapest-headquartered MOL Group around midnight in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, district police chief Asif Bahadur told the media.

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"They were armed with light and heavy weapons and fired mortar shells, killing six security personnel at the main entrance" to the remote site near the Afghan border, said Bahadur.

Police said the dead included four members of the Frontier Constabulary, a paramilitary police assistance force, and two Pakistani security guards.

In a brief statement the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility and said its fighters had "attacked a Frontier Constabulary check post".

"The exchange of fire continued for more than an hour. Police forced the militants to flee," Bahadur said, also blaming the Pakistan Taliban.

The MOL Group confirmed the death toll but said none of its employees were killed.

Two wells near the attack site have "been temporarily shut down by remote access and the wells are now secured", it said in a statement.

Agence France-Presse