Militants kill Pak official in restive region

Tank (Pakistan), May 14: Suspected Islamist militants shot dead a government official after breaking into his house today the latest such killing in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region, officials said.

The killings of pro-government tribesmen and officials have become common in Waziristan region, near the Afghan border, where security forces are fighting al Qaeda and Taliban remnants and their local sympathisers. Hundreds of militants, soldiers as well as civilians have been killed in these clashes.

Attackers broke into the house of the official, Sultan Khan Mehsud, and opened fire and killed him after overpowering four guards posted at the house in Jandola town.

A local intelligence official said Mehsud had received threats from militants for collecting government taxes in the area.

Many al Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies found sanctuaries in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt, inhabited by conservative Pashtun tribes, after fleeing the US-led campaign in Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

Last month, four tribesmen were beheaded by militants because they were believed to be acting as informers for Pakistani forces and Americans across the border in Afghanistan.

REUTERS