PESHAWAR, Jan 5: Militants have killed 15 Frontier Constabulary personnel in North Waziristan to avenge, in the words of a Taliban spokesman, the death of one of their ‘commanders’ in another tribal area at the hands of security forces.

According to a security official, the 15 personnel guarding the boundary between the tribal region and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been taken hostage on Dec 23 in a pre-dawn attack by militants on their post in Mullazai area of Tank district.

“We had been trying to get them freed and we maintained contacts with their captors. Until last night the indications were positive. God knows what happened afterwards,” the official said.

The bullet-ridden bodies thrown on a hill in Mir Ali sub-district were spotted by tribesmen on Thursday morning.

Talking to this correspondent, Abdullah Jan, a witness, said he and his two nephews had gone to the nearby hill to collect firewood when they saw the bodies, some in FC uniform and other in plainclothes.

“We informed the residents of Paipali Kabalkhel, a small village, who took the bodies to a mosque and informed the local authorities,” he said.

Security personnel rushed to the place and took the bodies to the CMH in Tall Qilla from where they were sent to Peshawar.

The funeral prayers of the slain personnel were offered at the FC headquarters in Hayatabad and the bodies were sent to their native areas.

“It appears that they were shot dead early on Thursday morning,” the official said.

The Dec 23 attack had left one soldier of the Frontier Constabulary dead and two injured, while eight others had escaped.

“We have no ingress into the tribal area and, therefore, we had to rely on all those who could help,” the official said.

The deceased were identified as Subedar Haji Bawar Khan of Drazenda, Naib Subedar Ali Amir of Khyber Agency, Hawaldar Badshah Khan of Charsadda, Naik Zabit Khan of Mohmand Agency, Lance Naik Nisar Gul of Khyber Agency and soldiers Khan Talib, Shakeel Gul, Wajeed Khan, Wazeer Ali, Amjad Ali, Mohammad Arif, Ajeem Shah, Talib Khan and Rawanullah of Khyber Agency and Shafiur Rehman of Charsadda.

TTP’s central spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan called media outlets on Thursday morning to announce the killing of the FC men.

He said this had been done to avenge the killing of Qari Kamran in Khyber Agency.