Army 'rescues captured schoolboys' in Pakistan

Troops manning a checkpoint today rescued dozens of students, teachers and staff from a boys' school who had been taken captive by militants in the northwest, the Pakistani military said.

The brazen abduction in North Waziristan yesterday was part of a string of militant actions in Pakistan’s tribal belt, some of which the army says is aimed at distracting it from its offensive against the Taliban in the Swat Valley.