Pakistan,Islamabad :Authorities reported on August 29 that a Pakistani Army colonel and several close family members were abducted. The officer, along with two of his brothers and a nephew, was kidnapped during a family funeral in the Kalach area of Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, according to security sources who spoke to RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal. The outlawed Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the abduction in a message sent to Radio Mashaal, stating that the captives were unharmed. This incident follows the government's initiation of an operation against militants allegedly entering Pakistan from neighboring Afghanistan.