Seven tribesmen shot dead in Pakistani tribal area

WANA: Gunmen shot dead seven tribesmen on Thursday in a restive tribal region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where the military is hunting Al-Qaeda-linked militants, officials said.   

"All seven men of the Kari Khel Wazir tribe were shot dead near a paramilitary camp in the town of Wana," a security official told reporters. The victims were travelling in a vehicle when the attackers in another vehicle opened fire on them, he said on condition of anonymity.  

The identity of the gunmen was not immediately clear, but similar attacks in Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal district, have been blamed on Al-Qaeda and militants linked with Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime.   

"It is too early to say anything about the motive of killings and the identity of the attackers," the official said.   

But local residents said the deceased tribesmen belonged to a group of bandits and could be the victims of a campaign launched by the Taliban against criminals in the area. Militants in neighbouring North Waziristan last month hanged the bodies of local bandits in the street after clashes in which up to 15 people were killed.   

Pakistan has deployed thousands of troops in the tribal areas to hunt Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who sneaked across the mountainous border in late 2001 after a US-led invasion of Afghanistan, and their local supporters.