Armed militants on Monday took over 70 school children hostage in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province but the tense five-hour standoff ended peacefully after the government gave them safe passage.

The militants equipped with rocket launchers and grenades, took the children hostage after storming a school following a gun battle with police at Domail village in Karak district of the NWFP.

The militants who had abducted a local health officer were stopped by policemen at a check post. This sparked a gun-battle in which one of the militants was shot dead. The rebels were then holed up in the school.

There were over 200 students in the school when the militants entered it, and about 70 children were taken hostage by seven rebels.

The health officials, however, managed to escape from the clutches of the militants.

Following the intervention of a tribal Jirga and a local member of a provincial assembly, the militants released the children in exchange for safe passage, the local district coordination officer said.

The children were handed over to tribal elders and police and paramilitary forces, which had surrounded the school, pulled back.

Karak district borders the restive North Waziristan tribal agency, where security forces have clashed with pro-Taliban militants in recent days. The nearby district of Bannu has also witnessed attacks by militants.