5 peace committee members shot dead in Pakistan

Islamabad, Sep 7: Five members of a government peace committee were shot dead by suspected militants in Pakistan's Khyber Agency, media reported on Monday.

"Suspected militants abducted the members of Bara peace committee and later shot them dead," Dawn online quoted security sources as saying.

The Dawn report, however, did not mention when the killings took place.

The militants belonged to Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) group, said the sources.

Peace committee members in the country's Qamber Khel region have also been targeted a number of times in the past.

Khyber links several agencies to each other, serving as a north-south route within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The region has been long fought over by a mix of militant organisations, including the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Ansarul Islam and Mangal Bagh's Lashkar-i-Islam.

IANS