Suspected militants shot dead a pro-government tribal elder, while separately three others were gunned down in a Pakistani tribal zone bordering Afghanistan, said officials on Sunday. Malik Wali Zar, a member of a government-sponsored committee working on expulsions of foreign pro-Taliban militants, was shot dead on Saturday at Inzar village in South Waziristan, said a security official. Zar was returning home after attending a meeting in Wana when he was snatched from a passenger van by masked gunmen and shot dead, said a security official.
Separately, unidentified gunmen shot dead three tribesmen in North Waziristan on Saturday, said another security official. The three were hauled from a van in Dangeen village, and shot dead. The attackers then fled in a waiting car, he said. It was not immediately clear whether pro-Taliban militants were behind the attack, the official said, adding that an investigation had been launched.
In another incident, senior local administration official Faizullah was travelling in a passenger van when he was kidnapped by armed gunmen in Mir Ali on Sunday, said the official. The government signed a peace deal with tribal elders in North Waziristan in September, under which Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters would be expelled from the area.