LANDIKOTAL:
Three young men were abducted and brutally executed by suspected terrorists on charges of espionage in the volatile Tirah Valley of Khyber tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Friday.
The victims – identified as Ibrahim, son of Masoor, Samad, son of Piyo Khan, and Naveed, son of Sher Ghulam – belonged to the local Malik Din Khel tribe.
The three were abducted by suspected terrorists on Thursday, according to sources. Their bodies were found dumped in an open field early Friday morning. They were apparently shot execution style.
The bodies were found by local tribesmen who later shifted them to the victims’ homes.
Read more: 22 terrorists killed in Tirah valley operations: ISPR
The grisly discovery whipped up fear and panic among local tribesmen who called on the government and security forces to take immediate action and restore law and order in the scenic Tirah Valley, where the Mangal Bagh-led banned Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) terrorist group once held sway.
Bagh, along with his loyalists, had fled to the Afghan province of Nangarhar, which border Tirah Valley, in 2010 after a series of military operations and growing resentment among local population against his vigilantism.
Bagh’s LeI has since established a symbiotic relationship with other terrorist groups sheltering in Afghanistan to carry out hit-an-run attacks in Pakistan.
Last week, the military claimed that 22 terrorists were killed and 18 others injured in a series of intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in Tirah valley during the past month.
The raids were carried out following an uptick in terrorist violence targeting civilians and security personnel in the area.
“Security forces are conducting extensive IBOs in the area against the Khawrij,” the ISPR said in a statement while referring to the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and its affiliates.
The counter-terrorism measures, described as extensive and intelligence-driven, underscore the military’s determination to purge the area of terrorists.
