PESHAWAR, April 21: Militants beheaded a sympathiser of anti-Taliban lashkar and threw his body on the main Matani-Adezai Road on the suburbs of provincial metropolis on Thursday morning, locals and police said.

The villagers said that he was a sympathiser of Adezai Qaumi Lashkar, which had been fighting against Taliban since 2008. A source said that a resident of Kashangarh village had requested him to visit his residence to take proper measurement for preparation of an iron gate for him.

The welder, riding a motorcycle, had been picked by unidentified gunmen. His motorcycle was left abandoned on the road. However, it is yet to be ascertained as to who had asked him to visit his residence.

The source said that following his disappearance local elders held a meeting and through a unanimously adopted resolution requested Taliban to release him as he was a poor man and lone bread earner of family. But they received no positive response from the other side.

It was learnt that a letter was also placed on the body, stating that those supporting anti-Taliban groups would meet the same fate.

Dilawar Khan, the head of Adezai Qaumi Lashkar, when contacted, confirmed that Niaz Badshah was his close friend and used to visit his residence frequently. He was opposed to Taliban, he added.

“I had asked him many times to avoid speaking against Taliban and visiting my house as it was dangerous for him but he was a bold persons and never felt any fear,” Mr Khan said, adding Taliban were involved in his murder.

Police said that the body was handed over to his relatives after postmortem for burial. A case against unidentified terrorists was registered at Matani police station.

It merits a mention here that a policeman Tariq Khan was the first resident of Adezai who was slaughtered by suspected militants after kidnapping him along with a schoolteacher Chaman Gul of the same village from Kohat Road on March 29, 2009. His body was also dumped at the same place.

Later, several people were shot dead and slaughtered in the area but police so far could not find any clue to those facilitating the terrorists.

Meanwhile, police also claimed to have defused a powerful bomb planted along a road at Mashokhel area. The explosives, packed in a pressure cooker, weighed 15 kilograms, they said.

A police official said that apparent target of the bomb was a private school.