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Taliban behead three 'US spies'
Taliban militants have beheaded three men including two Afghans in Pakistan's lawless northwest tribal belt, accusing them of spying for the United States, officials said on Wednesday.
Taliban militants have beheaded three men including two Afghans in Pakistan's lawless northwest tribal belt, accusing them of spying for the United States, officials said on Wednesday.
The headless bodies were found dumped by the roadside in the Mir Ali area of the tribal North Waziristan district, which borders Afghanistan, local police officer Muneer Zaman said.
"Their throats were cut last night and the bodies were dumped early Wednesday," he told AFP from the region's main town Miranshah.
A note placed near the bodies said the men were beheaded because "they were US spies -- anybody found engaged in espionage will meet the same fate".
A security official confirmed the killings, saying the beheaded Afghans were refugees while the local man was an ordinary Pakistani tribesman.
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 latest killings come as the United States intensifies missile attacks by unmanned aircraft targeting mostly North Waziristan, a bastion of the Taliban and fighters linked to the Al-Qaeda network.
Washington says the tribal regions, where Pakistani security forces are also battling Islamist militants, have become a safe haven for extremists.
