ISLAMABAD, Aug 21: Three Pakistani tribesmen found murdered close to the Afghanistan border are suspected of being informers for U.S.-led forces in the region, news reports said Wednesday.

Their bodies were found in separate areas in South Waziristan territory bordering the Paktia-Khost region of Afghanistan, where United States forces and allies had hunted for al-Qaeda and Taliban elements.

Hands, noses and ears of the three were chopped off by the unknown murderers, and U.S. currency was found in the victims’ pockets, according to Islamabad’s Urdu-language newspaper Ausaf.

Kinsmen from Mehsud tribe identified and collected the body of Juma Khan, suspected of acting as an informer on fleeing al-Qaeda terrorists on Pakistan’s side of the border, according to the daily The News of Islamabad.

U.S. forces are stationed on the Pakistani side to pursue remnants of al-Qaeda and Taliban.

The presence has aroused anti-American sentiment not only among the pro-Taliban Pakistani tribesmen, but within nationalist circles also.

Reports said the other two slain tribesmen were not identified, but are believed to be “close friends” of Juma Khan.

Ausaf reported a fourth Mehsud man was being held by Ahmadzai tribesmen in the area on the suspicion of being an informer.

The tribe is split whether to execute or to hand him over to the Pakistani government’s representative in the territory.

Local customs and traditions, not Islamabad’s laws, rule Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt along Afghanistan.—dpa