Islamic cleric, Afghan refugee beheaded

updated 6:08 a.m. ET Aug. 30, 2006

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan - Militants decapitated an Islamic cleric and an Afghan refugee accused of spying for U.S. and Afghan authorities in northwestern Pakistan, an intelligence official said Wednesday.

The men’s beheaded bodies were found early Wednesday in two villages near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the secretive nature of his work.

Notes written in the local Pashtu language were left on the bodies accusing the men of being spies for the U.S. and Afghanistan, he said.

The cleric was an Afghan identified as 45-year-old Noor Wali. His decapitated body and severed head were dumped next to each other on a roadside in Khati Khel, a village near Miran Shah, the official said.

The body of the Afghan refugee, identified as Hak Nawaz, was found in Darpakhel village, on Miran Shah’s western outskirts. Militants had cut off his head and placed it on his chest, leaving a note saying “this is a gift for Karzai,” referring to Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai, according to the official.

The bullet-riddled body of another Afghan refugee was found in North Waziristan on Monday with a note attached also accusing him of spying for the United States.

Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants and pro-Taliban tribal militants have been blamed for killing scores of tribesmen accused of spying or collaborating with Pakistani authorities in the volatile North and adjoining South Waziristan region.

Pakistan, a U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, has deployed about 80,000 troops along its border with Afghanistan to track down militants.

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