Pakistan ? A group of heavily armed men took more than 200 children hostage at a school in northwestern Pakistan on Monday but released them and their teachers under a deal negotiated by tribal elders, according to authorities and residents.

No one was hurt during the standoff, and under the terms of the deal, the gunmen were permitted to flee.

The standoff began Monday morning in Bannu district, near North Waziristan, when seven gunmen stormed a school, according to witnesses. Sher Khan, head teacher of the school, said the gunmen took control of classrooms filled with children ages 6 to 12.

Local police said the gunmen were members of a criminal gang who had kidnapped a government employee earlier, then fled into the school when pursued by police. The gunmen used “the children as human shields,” said one police official in Bannu.

Many residents in Bannu, about 90 miles south of Peshawar, said they suspected the involvement of pro-Taliban extremists.