Bodies of 13 Pakistani paramilitary soldiers kidnapped by militants last week have been found in an abandoned vehicle, officials and police in north-west Pakistan said on Wednesday. The bodies were recovered in Darra Adam Kheil near Peshawar, where fighting broke out on Friday after militants seized four trucks carrying ammunition and other supplies for soldiers.
"Ten bodies have been identified while the remaining three are difficult to recognise," said a police official, who declined to be named. "They were apparently killed last week, but their bodies were found on Wednesday."
Sources said the bodies were found earlier. military spokesmen were not immediately available for comment. In separate incidents police said three suspected militants were killed while handling explosives near Peshawar, and two suicide bombers were captured in Dera Ismail Khan, a region adjoining South Waziristan region.
According to intelligence sources two soldiers were killed in a rocket attack on a military camp in North Waziristan, though military officials said two were wounded. Violence has escalated in the country since commandos raided a radical mosque in the Islamabad in July, and hundreds of people have since been killed in attacks, including suicide bombings.
Most of the violence has been concentrated in the Waziristan region. Residents in the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali say a missile fired by a US drone aircraft struck a house on the outskirts and killed at least 10 people late on Monday.
Intelligence sources in the area believed most of the dead were Arab al Qaeda fighters, but details have been scanty, and there has been no official confirmation by either the United States or Pakistan.
US forces in Afghanistan have launched similar attacks on al Qaeda targets on the Pakistani side of the border several times in recent years. If it was a US drone attack, the lack of confirmation is not unusual. Pakistan says it will not tolerate violations of its territorial sovereignty and reports of such attacks are embarrassing for both allies.