Taliban militants kill 2 soldiers in NW Pakistan

Islamabad, July 24: Suspected pro-Taliban militants have executed two paramilitary soldiers in a remote Pakistani northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said today.

The bodies of the soldiers, kidnapped yesterday, were found wrapped in plastic bags and dumped in a field near Khar, the main town of the Bajaur tribal region which is rife with support for Taliban and al Qaeda militants.

''The two belonged to the Bajaur Scouts force and were assigned to supply potable water to security forces guarding checkpoints near the Afghan border,'' one official said.

Bajaur is the most north-easterly of Pakistan's seven tribal regions and is opposite the Afghan province of Kunar where U.S.

troops have been battling al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

Many al Qaeda militants and Taliban members fled into Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal lands from Afghanistan after US-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001.

Pakistan, a major US ally in the war on terrorism, has been trying to clear foreign militants from the area and pacify their Pakistani allies. Hundreds of people have been killed in clashes.

In March, tribesmen in Bajaur gave the government assurances they would not shelter foreign fighters.

But Islamist militants in the lawless border region have launched several attacks on security forces to avenge the storming of a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad, this month.

More than 180 people, mostly police and soldiers, have been killed in such attacks since the operation against the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, complex was launched on July 3.

The government said 102 people were killed in the siege and the storming of the mosque on July 10.

Reuters>