When I first heard this story on the radio this morning on the way to school, I feared another Beslan hostage situation. Thank the Lord that’s not the situation:

Gunmen seized control of a high school in volatile northwestern Pakistan on Monday, police said, holding 30 students and teachers hostage as security forces surrounded the building.
Police near the town of Bannu were negotiating with the gunmen, believed to number five or six, said district police chief Dar Ali Khattak.

The standoff began after the gunmen abducted a health official in a neighboring district and were chased by police, said Liaqat Khan, another local police official.
The gunmen eventually freed the official but took refuge inside the school, and are now demanding safe passage in return for freeing the students and teachers, he said.
An intelligence official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that two gunmen were killed and one policeman was wounded in a firefight during the chase.