Pak jets kill 16 in strikes on tribal area

BY SHAFQAT ALI

Islamabad

Oct. 24: Pakistani jets on Friday killed 16 in airstrikes on the volatile tribal Bajaur agency. "At least 16 persons were killed in airstrikes over Damadolla and Bedan regions in Mamond area of Bajaur tribal agency," a security official said. According to the officials, jet fighters also dropped bombs at Chahar Mang and Loeysam areas due to which eight houses were demolished.

Meanwhile, Taliban militants beheaded two men in Pakistan’s troubled tribal belt after accusing them of spying for neighbouring Afghanistan, local officials said on Friday. The executions were the latest in a string of similar killings in the rugged frontier region, a haven for Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents intent on destabilising both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The bodies of the men were found dumped near a road in Azam Warsak, a town in the North Waziristan tribal region, on Friday, a security official said.

Their killers left a note in Pashto language claiming that the slain men, who were abducted five days ago, had confessed to being spies, said a local administration official. "During interrogation they told us that they had come after taking money from Afgha-nistan for espionage. They also disclosed the names of some of their colleagues," the official quoted from the note.