DERA ISMAIL KHAN, June 19: Militants shot dead a tribal elder with close ties to the US-backed Afghan government on Monday, an official said. Nazimuddin Gangikhel was driving in a pick-up truck when gunmen opened fire from a parked car in South Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the intelligence official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of his job.

Mr Gangikhel was heading to his village of Angoor Ada when he was ambushed near Wana, South Waziristan’s main town, the official said.

The slain tribesman regularly travelled to Kabul and met officials of Afghan government, the official added.

Scores of tribesmen have been killed in South and the adjoining North Waziristan tribal regions in recent years on suspicion of helping authorities hunt them or spying for the United States.—AP