Pakistani soldiers slain by militants

Eight Pakistani soldiers whose bodies were found in a remote northwestern tribal region with their hands tied behind their backs were slain by militants who had taken them hostage, military and government officials said today.

The victims were travelling in a military convoy that was ambushed on March 22 near Sarwakai, a village about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan tribal region, where a two-week military operation is still underway against suspected al-Qaida fugitives.

In all 13 soldiers were killed in the initial rocket attack near Sarwakai, and 15 others were wounded.

Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, spokesman for the Pakistan army, said that the uniformed bodies of the eight other soldiers were found Friday at a nearby deserted area by a local woman and then retrieved by tribesmen.

They had been shot at “close range” at least two days previously.

A local government official said the soldiers’ hands were tied behind their backs.

“It is a cold-blooded murder,” Sultan said, adding that the army’s response would be “firm and calculated” rather than violent. He would not elaborate.

Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has deployed tens of thousands of troops along the border with Afghanistan to prevent Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives from sneaking into the country.

On March 16, Pakistan launched its biggest operation in its lawless tribal regions yet, after receiving intelligence that some “foreign terrorists” were hiding in a house near Wana.

Paramilitary forces were surprised by the intensity of the resistance they faced, and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said last week the militants were likely protecting a ”high-value” target – which officials said may have been al-Qaida’s deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri.

Pakistan’s army sent thousands of troops into the area after the paramilitaries suffered heavy casualties, and battled hundreds of foreign militants and sympathetic local tribesmen.

The government says it has killed more than 50 ”terrorists” including some foreigners during the operation.

The military has refused to detail its casualties, although other security officials say on condition of anonymity that nearly 50 army and paramilitary soldiers have been killed.

At least 12 civilians were believed killed when a helicopter fired on a bus.

Speculation has grown that any “high-value target” has escaped, after tunnels were discovered in the area which could have provided an escape route in the botched initial assault by paramilitary forces on March 16.

A taped message, purportedly from al-Zawahri and aired on Thursday, urged Pakistanis and the country’s armed forces to overthrow Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror.

The CIA said the voice on a tape, broadcast on the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera was likely al-Zawahri.

It was not clear, however, when and where the tape was recorded.

Pakistan condemned and rejected al-Zawahri’s call, vowing to press on with the Wana military operation.

In an interview with ABC television network on Friday, Musharraf said people should “not get excited” about a single tape, and dismissed the notion that al-Zawahri could take over Pakistan’s government.

“I am very sure we will eliminate al-Qaida from our region,” Musharraf was quoted as saying in a partial transcript released by the network.