(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Five Pakistani Shia, including a woman, who were kidnapped in Afghanistan’s volatile eastern Paktia province on August 14, were found dead on Thursday.
The bodies of the five Shia were found in Jani Khel district. They were kidnapped a week ago from Samankani, a district bordering Pakistan on their way to Parachinar. Family members of the victims earlier this week had said that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs6 million.
The families of detained people were not able to provide the huge amount to the Taliban kidnappers belongs from Mengal tribe.
Residents of Parachinar and upper parts of the Kurram Agency had no choice but to travel through Afghanistan to get to their native areas ever since the Peshawar-Parachinar Road has become unsafe and is frequently attacked by militants. Travellers routinely enter the Paktia province and cross the Torkham border after a long journey through Logar, Kabul and Nangrahar provinces.
The people of Parachinar were used the route of Afghanistan to reach in Peshawar or rest of Pakistan because of the illegal blockade of Parachinar by the Taliban terrorists from the last five years.
Deputy Governor Paktia province Abdul Rahman Mangal said he had asked tribal elders in the Samankani and Jani Khel districts to trace the killers. He said that although the victims were Shias, the real motive behind the murders was unclear. He said bodies of the slain men and woman would be handed over to their relatives.
Earlier in July last year, at least 11 Pakistani Shia had been martyred when unknown gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the Samankani district of the same province.
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