The aftermath of the huge predator drone strike by the U.S. that killed nearly 40 the other day has now seen 4 more people killed but this time it was the Taliban shooting four people that they accuse of being spies for the U.S. and had actually assisted with information that led to the drone strike.
From the report at DAWN:
Taliban militants shot dead four tribesmen on Monday after accusing them of spying for the United States in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt, officials said.
Three bullet-riddled bodies were dumped on a roadside in Datta Khel village, 35 kilometres west of Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district, local administration official Wahab Khan told AFP.
The body of another tribesman was found in Mir Ali village, 25 kilometres east of Miramshah, Khan said.
“The bodies had multiple bullet wounds and were mutilated,” Khan said and added that notes found on bodies said Taliban had killed them because they were spying for the United States.
Another report said the bodies were found with notes outlining their alleged role in the March 17 drone strike. The notes warned that anyone who helped the US would face a similar fate.
Now, we all saw how the Pakistani government and military got all bent out of shape by the huge death toll from that U.S. drone strike but these executions by the Taliban show the real story - that this drone strike hurt the Taliban badly and now they are lashing out. It's obvious that the U.S. is receiving excellent intelligence on the ground in North Waziristan in regards to the accuracy of the drone strikes and the Taliban are now trying to cut that intel link.
This is nothing new, however, as the landscape of NW Pakistan has been littered many times by the bodies of dead Pakistanis who the Taliban have labeled as U.S. spies but in the end, every single day the intel keeps flowing to our CIA on just where the Taliban targets are hiding out.
Taliban shoot dead four ‘US spies’ in North Waziristan
MIRAMSHAH: Taliban militants shot dead four tribesmen on Monday after accusing them of spying for the United States in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt, officials said.
Three bullet-riddled bodies were dumped on a roadside in Datta Khel village, 35 kilometres west of Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district, local administration official Wahab Khan told AFP.
The body of another tribesman was found in Mir Ali village, 25 kilometres east of Miramshah, Khan said.
“The bodies had multiple bullet wounds and were mutilated,” Khan said and added that notes found on bodies said Taliban had killed them because they were spying for the United States.
Another report said the bodies were found with notes outlining their alleged role in the March 17 drone strike. The notes warned that anyone who helped the US would face a similar fate.
Local intelligence officials confirmed the executions.
Militants frequently kidnap and kill tribesmen in the troubled region on alleged charges of spying for the Pakistan government or US forces in neighbouring Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters have been waging a vicious insurgency for nine years.
North Waziristan is a known hub of Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants where the United States wants the Pakistan military to launch a ground offensive as soon as possible.
Pakistan has consistently countered that its troops are too overstretched to launch an assault there.
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