Taliban attack

The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the execution of at least 15 members of the Pakistani security forces.

The members of the Pakistani paramilitary Frontier Constabulary had been kidnapped from their fort on December 23 in the northwestern town of Tank.

Ali Sher Mehsud, a local senior commander, told AFP news agency the men had been killed in Shawa and that all of the bodies had bullet wounds.

A spokesperson for the militant Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group, which is affiliated with the Taliban and al Qaeda, is quoted as saying the killings were "revenge for the killing of our comrades in Khyber by Pakistani forces," who were "in fact fighting for Americans."

Terrorist group

The TTP, labeled a terrorist group by the United States, has been connected to a number of attacks across Pakistan and Afghanistan, including an attack on a school bus near Peshawar in September 2011, which killed five people.

A Taliban commander was quoted as saying the attacks were generally aimed at ridding Afghanistan of foreign forces and at undermining cooperation between Washington and Islamabad.

The Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, has been accused in the past of having links with the terrorist group, which the government denies. In autumn of 2011, the Taliban claimed to have been holding exploratory peace talks with the Pakistani government.

Author: Sarah Berning (Reuters, dpa, AFP)
Editor: Daren Mara