Taliban militants killed two men in North Waziristan after accusing them of spying for the United States, police officials said on Sunday.
The bodies were found on roadsides; one hacked into pieces, in the Nawi Adda and Boya areas of the Datta Khel region in North Waziristan. They were local tribesmen who had been captured after two separate US drone attacks in the region on Thursday and Friday, the officials said.
“A charred body of local tribesman was found dumped on the roadside in Nawi Adda area on Sunday morning with a note in Pashto language,” said local tribal police official Jalaluddin. The second body, which had been cut into pieces, was found in the Boya area, another local police official, Habibullah Khan said.
Local intelligence officials also confirmed the incidents adding that the bodies were found with notes warning “all those spying for US will suffer the same fate”.
Militants frequently kidnap and kill tribesmen, accusing them of spying for the Pakistani government or US forces in Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters are leading an insurgency.
The US has branded the northwestern tribal area, which lies outside Pakistani government control, one of the most dangerous places on earth and a global headquarters of al Qaeda — whose leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in Abbottabad on May 2.
The majority of militants are concentrated in North Waziristan, the most notorious hideout of the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, and where the US wants the Pakistan military to launch a ground offensive. But Pakistan says its troops are too overstretched to conduct a full assault.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2011.
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