KOHAT/DARRA ADAMKHEL, Jan 30: Security forces found on Wednesday bodies of 13 missing soldiers in a vehicle parked in the Tor Chappar area of Darra Adamkhel.

The soldiers were captured by militants after they had taken control of a checkpoint at the Friendship Tunnel on Friday last.

“It appears that the soldiers were killed last week but their bodies were found on Wednesday,” a security official told Dawn in Peshawar.

Sources said the vehicle was found in Tor Chappar on Tuesday morning but nobody was allowed to go near it for fear that it might be a booby trap.

A bomb disposal squad cleared the vehicle before security officials checked it.

The bodies were taken to the combined military hospital in Kohat in the afternoon.

It is believed that militants executed the soldiers when security forces regained control over the tunnel on Tuesday.

The soldiers had been on duty at a PTCL communication tower on the hill above the tunnel. Bodies of five other soldiers were found on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Kohat-Peshawar road has been reopened after six days. About 200 vehicles escorted by troops left for Darra Adamkhel and Peshawar in convoys through the hilly track, officials said.

The military operation in the area was suspended on Wednesday evening and is likely to resume on Thursday morning.

District Coordination Officer Kamran Zeb told Dawn that the tunnel would remain open to traffic from 6am to 7pm on Thursday and only south-bound vehicles coming from Peshawar would be allowed to go through.

Meanwhile, people who had fled Darra Adamkhel because of the military operation have started returning to their homes.

— Munawwar Afridi contributed to this report from Darra Adamkhel.