Suspected 'US spies' beheaded in Pakistan
IOL: Two men have been beheaded in a lawless tribal region of Pakistan near the Afghan border on suspicion that they were spies for the US, an intelligence official said today.
The headless body of one man was found yesterday near Madakhel, a village in the North Waziristan tribal region, a local intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because of the secretive nature of his job.
A note written in the locally spoken Pashto language warned that spies for the US will meet the same fate, he said.
Villagers identified the 45-year-old man from the clothes that he was wearing, he said.
A day earlier, the decapitated body of a cleric was found near another village after he was abducted along with his pickup truck, the official said. The official did not identify the cleric. His pickup truck has not been found.
The cleric was suspected of taking supplies to US bases inside Afghanistan near the border, the official said.
Suspected Islamic militants have been blamed for killing scores of tribesmen and clerics suspected of being US spies or collaborators with the Pakistani government.
Military officials have said that Afghan, Arab and Central Asian militants - allegedly linked with al-Qaida – are in the North and adjacent South Waziristan tribal regions. The foreign militants are believed to be harboured by local tribal militants who have been blamed for much of the recent fighting with security forces in the region.
On Thursday, Pakistan army gunship helicopters attacked a suspected militant hide-out near Miran Shah, killing Mohsin Musa Matawalli Atwah, 45, an Egyptian al-Qaida suspect who was wanted by the US for the 1998 American Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, a Cabinet minister has said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
At least six other militants also died in the raid along with two children, according to another intelligence official in the area.
Pakistan is an ally of the US in the war against terrorism and it has deployed about 80,000 troops to its border regions along Afghanistan to track down militants.
The headless body of one man was found yesterday near Madakhel, a village in the North Waziristan tribal region, a local intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because of the secretive nature of his job.
A note written in the locally spoken Pashto language warned that spies for the US will meet the same fate, he said.
Villagers identified the 45-year-old man from the clothes that he was wearing, he said.
A day earlier, the decapitated body of a cleric was found near another village after he was abducted along with his pickup truck, the official said. The official did not identify the cleric. His pickup truck has not been found.
The cleric was suspected of taking supplies to US bases inside Afghanistan near the border, the official said.
Suspected Islamic militants have been blamed for killing scores of tribesmen and clerics suspected of being US spies or collaborators with the Pakistani government.
Military officials have said that Afghan, Arab and Central Asian militants - allegedly linked with al-Qaida – are in the North and adjacent South Waziristan tribal regions. The foreign militants are believed to be harboured by local tribal militants who have been blamed for much of the recent fighting with security forces in the region.
On Thursday, Pakistan army gunship helicopters attacked a suspected militant hide-out near Miran Shah, killing Mohsin Musa Matawalli Atwah, 45, an Egyptian al-Qaida suspect who was wanted by the US for the 1998 American Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, a Cabinet minister has said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
At least six other militants also died in the raid along with two children, according to another intelligence official in the area.
Pakistan is an ally of the US in the war against terrorism and it has deployed about 80,000 troops to its border regions along Afghanistan to track down militants.
posted by Marko at 4/17/2006 05:50:00 AM
<< Home