Twenty-one Pakistani security personnel kidnapped by the Taliban from check posts near Peshawar on Thursday have been gunned down by the militants.

Police officials said the bullet-riddled bodies of the policemen were found in Jabai area of Frontier Region Peshawar, located a short distance from the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, shortly after midnight last night. They were reportedly shot dead at a cricket ground.

Two other kidnapped security personnel escaped and one of them was seriously injured. One of them alerted local authorities, who found the bodies.

Over 200 militants armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades had attacked the posts and kidnapped 23 personnel of the Levies militia after over running three check posts.

Two security personnel were killed in the attack. The attackers, who were wearing uniforms of security forces, had taken away weapons and vehicles from the check posts. The Darra Adam Khel faction of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the attack.