hostage

Key points:

• Military personnel are searching for the pilot and five passengers
• The West Papua National Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for the attack
• The rebel group say it will release the pilot when the government recognises the region's independence

A police spokesperson in Papua province, Ignatius Benny Adi Prabowo, said authorities were investigating the incident, with police and military personnel sent to the area to locate the pilot and five passengers.

Lae police boss, Anthony Wagambie Jnr, reported that between four to five men held up a driver and took his vehicle.

“The owner of the vehicle was threatened and forcefully escorted to a secluded area at the back of Peter Block Kamkumung,” stated the chief superintendent.

“The criminals were planning to hold the vehicle owner as hostage while they use his vehicle to commit robbery at a nearby shop.”

About 500 cadets live in a hostel at the academy.

Five or six "terrorists entered the training school and (went) straight to the hostel where they took cadets hostage," the Pakistani army said in a statement. It was unclear how many students were being held.

"The military has been deployed to the location," the army said.

Twenty people were injured early in the attack, most from bullet wounds, according to a police official who did not want to give his name because he is not authorized to speak to media.

Tensions in the small tourist town remain high after the most recent incident which comes after the shooting of a police officer during a robbery on Saturday.

Yesterday morning police, responding to reports of a robbery at the PNG Airlines ticketing office, foundd it locked with staff still inside the building.

A break down in communication and some misinformation led police to believe the gunmen were still in the building, holding the staff, when in fact they had locked themselves in out of fear.

Judith D'Souza, 40, was working for the Aga Khan Foundation when she was abducted at gunpoint near her home in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on 9 June.

No details have been given about the rescue operation and officials have not said who the hostage takers were.

"Judith D'Souza is with us - safe and in good spirits," Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Twitter.

Ms D'Souza is travelling back to India with her country's ambassador to Afghanistan and is due to reach Delhi on Saturday evening, Ms Swaraj added.

What is it like living nearly half a decade as a hostage, shuffled between warring militant groups along the notoriously restless Pakistan-Afghanistan border, withstanding gruesome acts of torture and then suddenly, one day, escaping back to one's family and to home?

In his first English language interview since his release, Pakistan's Shahbaz Taseer told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that it is a test of patience, the strength of one's faith and random acts of kindness from the most unexpected of places that made him withstand his ordeal.

Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad's last communicated via his Facebook page on Jan. 24, announcing he had "finally made it" to Syria and was on his way to Hama. His prolific posting subsequently stopped.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende confirmed Thursday that the 48-year-old had been held since January, and that a picture shown in the latest issue of the militants' online magazine Dabiq, showing Grimsgaard-Ofstad in a yellow jumpsuit was believed to be recent.

The extremist group posted pictures of the two men wearing yellow prison outfits in the latest issue of its online magazine Dabiq, which was released Wednesday.

It identifies the Norwegian man as Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad, 48, from Oslo. It identifies the Chinese man as Fan Jinghui, 50, a freelance consultant from Beijing.

The magazine lists a telegram number for "whoever would like to pay the ransom for his release and transfer."

He says the U.S. will continue its policy of not paying a government ransom, but that families have never been prosecuted for trying to pay for the release of hostages.

He tells families: "We will not abandon you. We will stand by you."

Obama's remarks at the White House on Wednesday came as he announced the results of a six-month review of hostage policies.

The review was prompted by families who complained about threats of prosecution — and about sparse, confusing and sometimes contradictory information from the government.