Taliban kill Pakistan US 'spy': security official

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Taliban militants shot dead a man in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal belt after filming him confessing to spying for the United States, an official said Monday.

The bullet-ridden body of local tribesman Tahir Khan was found dumped on Monday in a bazaar in Wana, the main town in the semi-autonomous South Waziristan tribal region, a notorious hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

"Khan, who was kidnapped 10 days ago, had multiple bullet wounds on his body," a security official told AFP.

A DVD found with the body showed Khan confessing to spying and passing on information that led to a series of US missile attacks in the region.

A note found on the body said: "All those spying for the US will suffer the same fate," according to the official.

Almost every week, militants kidnap and kill tribesmen, accusing them of spying for the Pakistani government or US forces operating across the border in Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters are leading an insurgency.

Pakistan's rugged tribal regions have been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels fled across the border to escape the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

Washington says Pakistani tribal regions, where security forces are battling Islamist militants, have become a safe haven for Islamist militants.