13 bodies found in Pakistan were of army detainees

ISLAMABAD: Shepherds found 13 bullet-riddled bodies in northwestern Pakistan, officials said Sunday, and two local residents identified them as men detained by the military in January.

Two intelligence officials said the bodies discovered near Mandao village in Shaktoi, South Waziristan, were Taleban fighters. A military spokesman declined to comment.

Residents identified the bodies found on Saturday as local villagers and said the incident raises further questions about human rights abuses by Pakistani security forces battling the Taleban insurgents. The Pakistani military has received billions of dollars in foreign funding.

A Shaktoi resident told Reuters by telephone that the military arrested 35 people from Mandao in January.

“We contacted army officials here and they said that we will release them soon, but yesterday we found their dead bodies in the wild mountains of Shaktoi,” he said. “Shepherds saw these bodies lying under trees; we village people get these bodies.

“They had been killed with bullets, and different parts were eaten by wild animals,” he said. “Now we fear that the rest of the arrested people will be killed in such a way.” Residents were able to identify the men through their clothes and some of their faces, he said. He provided a list of names of the dead. “I know these people, they were from my village,” said another Mandao resident, Gul Wali. “Why are our forces killing us in such way?”