Islamabad, February 28: Villagers have found the bodies of 17 suspected Taliban fighters in Pakistan’s troubled north-western region, a security official said on Sunday.
The bodies were found dumped in the fields near a school in Toor Chappar village of Darra Adam Khel, a semi-tribal district located around 40 km south of Peshawar, the capital of North Western Frontier Province.
A local security official who spoke on condition of anonymity said “all 17 bodies had bullet wounds”, adding that these were the “terrorists wanted by the government for involvement in terror activities”.
The official declined to say who might have killed the militants, but human rights activists have suspected the government forces for extra-judicial killings of militants during security operations in various north-western districts.
More than 200 bullet-ridden and mutilated bodies of suspected Taliban fighters have been found dumped along the streets, in the fields or nullas in Swat valley since the military moved in there to flush out the militants in April 2009.
Hundreds of military and paramilitary troops are currently carrying out an operation, code-named “Spring Clearance” in the surrounding districts of Peshawar, which has been hit hard by deadly suicide bombings in recent months.
—Agencies