Eleven Pakistani police officers seized by supporters of a radical Islamist group as part of their campaign to get the French ambassador expelled have been released, officials said Monday.

Police officers stand guard outside the French consulate in Karachi, Pakistan on Thursday. Photo: VCG

The officers were grabbed as hostages Sunday by supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) during violent protests in Lahore.

Video circulating on social media - and confirmed unofficially by police as genuine - showed some of them bloodied and bruised, with bandages around their heads.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the police had been released early Monday after "negotiations" with the TLP, which the government banned on Friday after effectively labeling it a terrorist organization.

The officers had been held at a TLP mosque stronghold in Lahore, which is now packed with supporters and surrounded by police.

"Negotiations have been started with TLP; the first round completed successfully," said Rashid in a video posted on Twitter. "They have released 11 policemen who were made hostages."

He said a second round of negotiations would take place later Monday, although it is not clear what they will discuss.

Previously the TLP had set a Tuesday deadline for the expulsion of the French ambassador. 

On Thursday, the French Embassy in Pakistan advised its nationals to leave the country.