PESHAWAR: The bullet-riddled bodies of an anti-Taliban militia commander and three of his associates were dumped in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday, police said.

The bodies of Fahimud Din, 50, chief of a 1,500-strong vigilante force in Bazidkhel on the outskirts of Peshawar, and three of his associates were found in a Toyota Land Cruiser on the city's ring road.

“We found the bodies around 7:00 am (0200 GMT). Four of them had been shot at close range,” senior police official Asif Iqbal told AFP.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. According to police, relatives had not heard from Din since Tuesday when he went to Islamabad for work.

Police said Din survived at least three suicide bombings and several roadside bomb attacks blamed on the Taliban and warlord Mangal Bagh who leads the Lashkar-e-Islam militia in the adjoining Khyber tribal district.

On June 12, two of his bodyguards were killed in a suicide attack that targeted his vehicle. Din survived because he had not been in the car.