July 20, 2008	Sunday	Rajab 16, 1429

GHALANAI, July 19: Four members of a rival militant group, taken hostage by the Taliban, were executed by their captors in the Mohmand Agency on Saturday.

The commander of the rival group, Shah Khalid, and his deputy Qari Ubaidullah, are among the dead.

The Taliban said that 118 other captives belonging to the Shah group would be penalised ‘in accordance with the Sharia law’.

Sources said that both the commanders were shot dead by Taliban at 10am following a verdict of the local Shura held at an unspecified place.

The bodies were brought to the agency headquarters hospital in Ghalanai and later taken to Peshawar where they would be handed over to relatives for burial.

A large number of people attended the funeral prayer in Peshawar, including activists of Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

Taliban spokesman for Mohmand chapter Dr Assad told Dawn that about 10 people from both sides were killed in the two days of fighting between the two groups.

It may be mentioned that fierce clashes took place between the Tehrik-i-Taliban and local Taliban (Shah group) on Wednesday last, killing three members of both the two groups.

The Taliban overpowered the Shah group and took 120 of its fighters hostage.