Two beheaded in Pakistani border region

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Islamic militants beheaded two
suspected bandits and strung up their bodies on electricity
poles in the latest violence to hit Pakistan’s lawless tribal
region near the Afghan border, witnesses said on Friday.

The militants have been searching for members of a gang of
bandits in the North Waziristan region after a clash on Tuesday
in which 15 people were killed, including 10 bandits.

Five of the bandits killed on Tuesday were strung up in
public. One was beheaded and his head stuck on a pole.

Residents of Miranshah, North Waziristan’s main town, awoke
on Friday to find two more bodies strung up from electricity
poles.

“Both were beheaded. One beheaded body was hanging upside
down,” said a resident of the town who declined to be
identified out of fear for his safety.

Waziristan is part of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal
belt that stretches through rugged mountains and deserts along
the border with Afghanistan.

Many al Qaeda members fled to the region from Afghanistan
after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001, and were
given shelter by militant sympathizers from conservative
Pashtun tribes that inhabit both sides of the border.

The government launched an offensive to try to clear
foreign militants from the region two years ago and hundreds of
people — both militants and government troops — have been
killed.

President Pervez Musharraf played down the latest violence
in comments to reporters in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, saying
70,000 troops were involved in counter-terrorism operations in
Waziristan and authorities were in control.

But residents say the region is tense and many people are
living in fear.

A senior government official with responsibility for tribal
affairs said many people supported the militants’ action
against bandits, and authorities were reluctant to intervene.

“It would be inappropriate to take action against militants
at a time when they have done something that people might be
supporting,” said the official in the northwestern city of
Peshawar.

A tribal jirga, or assembly of elders, would be convened on
Saturday to discuss the situation, he said. “We want to resolve
it through traditional means,” said the official, who declined
to be identified.

SEARCHING

Militants brandishing assault rifles and rocket-propelled
grenade launchers have been driving around Miranshah in pickup
trucks searching for suspected bandits, the resident said.

The militants killed four bandits in a village outside
Miranshah on Wednesday night after finding them hiding in the
water tank of a house.

Some of the bandits had been extorting money from travelers
on a road, which led to the initial clash on Tuesday.

On Thursday, 12 people were killed and dozens wounded in a
bomb explosion in a market in the town of Jandola on the border
with South Waziristan.

Authorities say there are still investigating and have not
speculated on who might have been responsible.

A week ago, an al Qaeda commander, Abu Hamza Rabia, and
four other people were killed in a blast in North Waziristan.

Authorities say he died when explosives at his hideout
detonated accidentally, but villagers said the blast was caused
by a missile from an aircraft, possibly a U.S. drone.

Unidentified gunmen on Monday kidnapped a Pakistani
journalist, Hayatullah Khan, who had reported that Rabia was
killed by a U.S. missile and had taken photographs of what
villagers said were fragments of the weapon.

His brother said on Friday he had had no word on Khan’s
fate.

On Thursday, the beheaded bodies of two paramilitary
soldiers were found in South Waziristan, two days after they
went missing with two colleagues. The whereabouts of the other
two are not known.