Pakistan ? Troops manning a checkpoint today rescued dozens of students, teachers and staff from a boys school who had been taken captive by militants in the northwest, the Pakistani military said.

The brazen abduction in North Waziristan on Monday was part of a string of militant actions in Pakistan’s tribal belt, some of which the army says is aimed at distracting it from its offensive against the Taliban in the Swat Valley.

In brief comments this morning, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said 80 people, 71 of them students, were found by forces manning a checkpoint in the Goryam area as their small convoy of vehicles, escorted by militants, was heading toward South Waziristan.

Earlier, officials had said police were negotiating with the Taliban via tribal elders for the captives.