Six Taliban fighters stand handcuffed after they were captured with their ammunition by Afghan security forces in Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 28, 2012. Afghan security forces captured six Taliban fighters with their ammunition during their operations on Tuesday, officials said. (Xinhua-Yonhap News)
KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani Taliban released a video showing what appeared to be the severed heads of a dozen soldiers on Friday as security officials said 15 troops were missing following fighting with militants.
The clashes on Tuesday came as part of a Pakistan army operation to repel Taliban militants who had crossed over from Kunar province in Afghanistan last Friday and occupied the village of Batwar in the Bajaur tribal district.
"At least 15 of our soldiers are still missing," a senior security official told AFP.
Another security official said "more or less" that many soldiers were missing but declined to give the exact total.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Sirajud Din sent AFP a video showing a militant commander posing with 12 heads arranged on the ground which he claimed were from soldiers they had killed.
"Praise be to God that the mujahideen in Bajaur agency have managed to kill the infidel soldiers of Pakistan," he says.
"Many of them were killed by bullets, 12 of them as you see have been beheaded, you see 12 heads here, and more heads are on the way."
The commander, his face unmasked and wearing traditional tribal dress, is flanked in the footage by around a dozen armed men including one wielding a huge axe.
The video showed belongings from the dead men laid out on a sheet, including Pakistani identity cards, camouflage pattern helmets, Pakistani currency, mobile phones and bank cards.
Military sources have so far not said whether they are the missing soldiers or confirmed that those shown in the video are Pakistani troops.
The speaker said they had been killed to avenge "brutalities" carried out by Pakistani troops.
In July the TTP released a video showing the heads of 17 Pakistani soldiers they claimed to have killed in a cross-border attack on a checkpost in the northwestern district of Upper Dir.
Intelligence officials blamed that attack on loyalists of Pakistani cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who fled to Afghanistan after losing control of the Swat valley to the army.
Fighting in Bajaur in the past week has claimed at least 50 lives, including 31 militants and two members of a government-backed peace committee who were killed on Monday.
Bajaur is one of seven districts in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt, where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have carved out strongholds used to plot attacks on Pakistan.
Pakistan has lost more than 3,000 soldiers in the fight against homegrown insurgents but has resisted US pressure to do more to eliminate havens used by those fighting the Americans in Afghanistan.
<한글 관련 기사>
'잔혹한 복수극' 희생자 머리 놓고..
(뉴델리=연합뉴스) 파키스탄탈레반(TTP)이 전투 도중 실종된 파키스탄군 병사 12명의 것으로 추정되는 머리를 비디오를 통해 공개했다.
AFP 통신은 1일 TTP 대변인 시라주드 딘이 전날 자사에 비디오를 보내왔다고 보도했다.
비디오에는 잘린 머리와 함께 파키스탄 부족 복장을 하고 복면한 TTP의 한 지휘관이 등장하고 그의 옆에 있는 10여명의 TTP 대원 중 한 명은 도끼를 들고 있다.
희생자들의 소지품, 신분증, 헬멧 등도 보였다고 통신은 설명했다.
비디오에 등장하는 머리들은 파키스탄군이 지난달 24일 아프가니스탄 국경과 가까운 파키스탄 부족지역 내 바자우르 구역에서 TTP 대원들과 교전하던 중 종적을 감춘 파키스탄군 병사 15명 가운데 12명의 것으로 추정된다.
TTP는 비디오에서 파키스탄군이 자신들을 잔혹하게 공격한 데 대한 보복이라고 주장했다.
파키스탄군은 시신이 훼손된 병사들이 최근 실종된 15명에 속하는지는 확인하지 않았다.
정보 관리들은 파키스탄 스와트 계곡에서 활동하다가 정부군 공격을 받고 아프간으로 달아난 마울라나 파즈룰라를 추종하는 이들이 문제의 시신들을 훼손한 것으로 추정했다.
바자우르 구역에선 최근 1주일 동안 파키스탄군과 TTP간 충돌로 최소한 50명이 사망했다.
파키스탄군은 부족지역 무장세력을 소탕하라는 미국 측 요구로 작전을 벌이지만 미국은 파키스탄군이 작전에 적극 나서지 않는다고 불만을 표출하고 있다.
