MIRANSHAH – Taliban militants shot dead four tribesmen, including one Afghan national, on Monday after accusing them of spying for the United States in two scattered places of North Waziristan, officials said. Three bullet-riddled bodies were dumped on a roadside in Datta Khel village, 35 kilometres (21 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district, local administration official Wahab Khan said, adding that the body of another tribesman was found in Mir Ali village, 25 kilometres east of Miranshah, Khan said.
“The bodies had multiple bullet wounds and were mutilated,” Khan said and added that notes found on bodies said Taliban had killed them because they were spying for the United States. Local intelligence officials confirmed the executions. The militants also threatened that others spying for the US will meet the same fate.
In another incident, Maulana Mohammad Hasham, a religious figure from Khyber Agency, was also assassinated by unknown persons and his dead body was found in the inaccessible Tirrah valley on Monday morning. Maulana Mohammad Hasham was abducted by a militant group a couple of days back. Maulana Hasham has become the second religious figure who was assassinated during current month. Earlier Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Wadood Afridi was shot dead by militants in the same area.
The political administration of Khyber Agency has also initiated search operation in certain areas of Bara Tehsil, netting out a hundred suspects on the first day only. The arrested persons included some gun-totting elements, associated to Lashkar Islam, a militant group engaged in terrorist activities in the area.
