16 bodies recovered from mass grave in Kohat: police

Kohat police have recovered 16 bodies from a mass grave in Jowakhi, a mountainous region of Bobo Khel that borders the city of Nowshera, it emerged on Friday.

According to police, the bodies have all been lifted from the grave and an investigation into the matter is underway.

District administration and a team from the Shangla Coal Mines Workers Welfare Association were present on site during the extraction of bodies.

Geo News correspondent Yasir Shah said that in 2011, some labourers from Dara Adam Khel had been kidnapped, murdered and their bodies disposed of in the mountains.

Subsequently, in March 2012, more than 50 bodies had been found buried in mass graves in the Jowakhi mountainous area. Among these, some were bodies of the Shangla coal miners.

"Due to the sensitive nature of law and order in this area, there was no movement of people here," said the correspondent.

"The heirs of the deceased (through the coal miners association) urged the government to return to them the bodies, so a rescue operation was carried out today," Shah added.

According to Geo News, after footage of the 2012 discovery of bodies was aired, a large army operation was carried out that cleared the area of hideouts belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group.