MANSEHRA, Nov 26: The bodies of two forest guards, who went missing a week ago, were found by their family members in the Dunga forest, some 50km from here, on Sunday.

A search was mounted for the guards of the Shear Guar forest range after they had gone missing a week ago.

Their family members were told by forest department authorities that the guards, named as Muhammad Misken and Duryaman, had remained absent from duty for six days.

On the sixth day of the search, decomposed bodies of the guards were found in the forest. They were said to have been gunned downed and later axed before their bodies were thrown in the forest.

According to the reliable sources, the guards were allegedly killed by a gang of timber smugglers, who, after killing them, threw their bodies in the forest.  

District Nazim Azam Khan Swati has convened a meeting of the law enforcement agencies on Tuesday to evolve a strategy for the arrests of the culprits.

He constituted a committee for paying compensation to the two families and announced that he would help the grieved families from his own pocket. He requested the NWFP governor to help the victim families.