Three abducted soldiers found dead

Miranshah: Pakistani tribesmen have found the corpses of three abducted soldiers in the North Waziristan region where Al Qaida and Taliban-linked militants have mounted an insurgency, a security official said yesterday.

Four security personnel were kidnapped from Razmak, south of the region's main town, Miranshah, on Tuesday.

A security official in Miranshah said residents had found only three bodies in the Dangeen mountains near Razmak on Wednesday. "They were shot dead. We don't know about the fourth one," he said.

Taliban claim

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the killings and said other soldiers would meet the same fate unless they left the military.

"Those troops resisted, that's why we killed them. But we promise that those who quit the military will be provided with security," said the spokesman, Ahmadullah Ahmadi.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan's security has deteriorated sharply since July, when Pakistani commandos stormed the Red Mosque in the capital, Islamabad, to crush a Taliban-style movement.

Sense of crisis

Nearly 800 people have been killed in militant-linked violence since then, including more than 23 suicide attacks, adding to a sense of crisis as president Pervez Musharraf attempts to secure another term.

North and neighbouring south Waziristan, near the Afghan border, are hotbeds of support for Al Qaida and Taliban militants.

Militants in south Waziristan freed 211 Pakistani troops last week in exchange for 25 comrades captured in different raids. Those troops had been held hostage for more than two months.