MIRAMSHAH (North Waziristan), June 2: A tribal elder was shot dead in the Lawara Mandi area of North Waziristan Agency on Thursday, sources said. They said that Sakhi Marjan was sitting at a shop in Datakhel near the Afghan border when some people in a car opened fire on him and fled.

Area people said that a few days back the deceased had received anonymous letters, asking him to stop spying for the US or face consequences. Meanwhile, security forces and tribal elders carried out a joint search operation in the Toorikhel area of Mirali tehsil on Wednesday night, officials said.

They said some suspects were picked up during the seven-hour operation conducted in the Khushali Toorikhel area. The names of the arrested persons could not be ascertained.

Political authorities assured the area people that those detained would be released after interrogation. An official said the detained persons had been taken to Peshawar for interrogation.

REPATRIATION: The pace of repatriation is likely to pick up in the next month because the government of Pakistan has announced that all refugee camps in North Waziristan, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, will be closed by the end of June. The government also said it intends to close down all other camps in the Fata region.

The residents of the camps, including about 30,000 in North Waziristan, will be offered a choice of voluntary repatriation.