MIRAMSHAH, July 2: A soldier was killed and his friend was kidnapped by unidentified people in Mirali town of the North Waziristan Agency on Monday. The deceased soldier was identified as Farmanullah.

Officials and residents said that he was going to his home in Essa Khel village with his friend Ashraf Ali in a car when masked men stopped them in Mirali Bazaar.

Eyewitnesses said the gunmen opened fire at Farman when he resisted. Later, they kidnapped his friend and fled in a car.

The motive behind the murder could not be ascertained.

Relatives said Farman’s father Mohammad Tahir, who was a retired subidar major in the Frontier Corps, was killed last year on charges of spying for America.—Correspondent