Pro-Taleban militants have shot dead a cleric they suspected of informing for security forces fighting al Qaeda guerrillas and their Taleban allies in the Waziristan, officials said on Monday.
The body was found in a market area near Mir Ali town, 25 km (15 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of the restive North Waziristan.
Intelligence and government officials said Maulana Janaat Mir, aged 80, was kidnapped by militants last week. "Maulana (Mir) was also head of his tribe and his name was on a militants' hit list circulated to people of the area five months ago," an intelligence official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.
He said the list contained the names of 28 tribesmen suspected of being informers or spies for either the government or American forces hunting al Qaeda remnants across the border in Afghanistan.
At least four suspected informers have been beheaded in North and South Waziristan in recent weeks. Tribesmen found decapitated bodies with notes attached saying the victims were American spies and warning others they would face the same fate.