Islamabad, Oct 2 (Xinhua) The Taliban militant group in Pakistan Thursday claimed responsibility for the kidnapping a Polish engineer in the country’s northwest last Sunday.According to local Dawn News TV channel, Muslim Khan, spokesman for the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan, said that the Polish engineer is in their hands.

But the spokesman did not elaborate the conditions for his release.

Peter Stanczak, an employee with Polish oil exploration firm Geofizyka Krakow Ltd, has been kidnapped by some gunmen from Basal area of Attock district, about 85 km from the capital Islamabad, Sunday.

The gunmen ambushed his vehicle and also shot dead his Pakistani driver and guards when they tried to put up resistance before kidnapping Stanczak.

Geofizyka Krakow is one of the many foreign companies which are drilling for oil and gas in Attock district, where they have their own security staff in addition to local police and a small contingent of the Frontier Corps paramilitary force.

The area is located close to the boundary of North West Frontier Province, where pro-Taliban militants seized two Chinese telecommunication engineers in late August.

Foreigners and diplomats in Pakistan are feeling at risk as the insurgents have intensified their attacks on “high-value targets” to avenge military operations in the restive northwestern regions, as well as in other parts of the country.