Bodies of 11 slain hostages found in Pakistani tribal region

Islamabad, Jun 24 (UNI) Bodies of 11 hostages, slain after their abduction last week, were recovered from two different sites of Kurram tribal region.

The bodies were recovered yesterday claimed local media reports.

Unidentified assailants shot dead eight persons and threw their bodies in a deserted place near Faqir Khamsa village in lower Kurram area.

All the slain persons were kidnapped by unidentified miscreants during an ambush on a trucks convoy heading for northwestern town of Parachinar carrying foodstuff and medicines last week.

All the victims hailed from Parachinar, the main town of Kurram Agency with Shiite population in majority. Their bodies were being sent to their respective villages after their handover to Turi and Bangash tribal elders. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the killings.

Political Agent Kurram Agency, Muhammad Azam Khan, meanwhile, told reporters in Parachinar, a town known as hot bed of sectarian violence, that culprits behind the gruesome act would be brought to justice. ''No one will be allowed to create law and order and killers of the innocent people will be brought to book,'' he told reporters.

Meanwhile, the combating tribes in lower Kurram agreed to a ceasefire after persuasion by elders following the two-day clashes.

Troops of Kurram militia were also reported to have taken control over the trenches dug by rival fighters to bring normalcy to the agency.

Taking strong exception to the brutal killings, the elders of Tori and Bangash tribes and their representative council 'Tori Bangash Supreme Council' demanded arrest of the perpetrators.

Talking to reporters, elders of the council Ali Akbar Turi, ex-senator Abid Hussaini and Musarrat Bangash said the responsibility of this bloodshed rests on the shoulders of the political administration and law enforcing agencies who claimed on Thursday that only three persons were killed and eight others were alive and would be recovered safely.

Even talks of the hostages were arranged with their family members over telephone following their abduction, they added.

They said the authorities deceived them by telling them lies to keep them tame while militants from Sadda were continuously attacking Balashkhel and Sangena villages with heavy weapons.

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