Pakistan police say children kidnapped by militants

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani police were trying on Wednesday to negotiate the release of about a dozen children they said were kidnapped by Islamist militants on suspicion of spying for security forces.

Militant violence has intensified in northwestern Pakistan this year with a series of suicide attacks on the police, military and political leaders in which hundreds of people have been killed.

The militants have also kidnapped people and executed suspected spies. They have also occasionally tried to recruit schoolchildren.

The children, aged 8 to 11, were abducted from a government school in the Swat Valley, northwest of Islamabad, on Tuesday, police said.

"We got information about the kidnapping and we checked with the militants through our own sources and it was confirmed that the children are with the militants," Swat police chief Dilawar Bangash told Reuters.

"The militants believe that the children were spying for the security forces."

Authorities were negotiating with the militants to secure the safe release of the children, he said.

"We told them that these children are innocent and have nothing to do with violence. We hope the children will be released soon," Bangash said.

A militant spokesman denied holding the children.

"It's propaganda against us," Muslim Khan, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman in Swat, said on Tuesday.

"What would we get by kidnapping children?" Khan said by telephone. He was not available for further comment on Wednesday.

Swat was one of Pakistan's main tourist destinations until early last year, when militants crossed from sanctuaries on the Afghan border to support a radical cleric in the area.

Intermittent fighting in the valley increased again in August. The military has also been fighting insurgents in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border west of Swat since August.

Last year, a clash broke out between police and militants in the northwestern town of Tank after the militants tried to recruit schoolboys for their insurgency.

Militants abducted two Chinese telecommunications engineers in Dir, also west of Swat, in late August to press the government to stop military operations.

One of the engineers was recovered last month but the other is still being held.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider)