PESHAWAR: Militants on Wednesday dumped the mutilated body of a purported Afghan spy accused of collaborating on US drone strikes that killed a prominent warlord in Pakistan this month, officials said.

The body of the man identified as Asmatullah Kharoti was found in Wana, the main town of the South Waziristan tribal district, which borders Afghanistan.

Local officials said he had been shot dead and there were wounds on his neck.

‘FATE OF SPIES’

Two notes on the body ordered the remains to be left on the roadside until 10:00am “so that everyone could see the fate of spies,” and the second accusing him of being a spy and being responsible for US drone attacks.

“He is a spy and was giving information to US and ISAF forces in Afghanistan about our activities,” a local official quoted the note as saying.

“He is responsible for the killing of five of our senior members, including Mullah Nazir, in drone attacks. He confessed that he installed chips in digital Qurans.”

ORAKZAI BLAST

Meanwhile, at least five people were killed and three injured in a bomb blast in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region of Orakzai Agency, Xinhua reported.

Orakzai Agency is located about 60 km from Peshawar and lies close to the Afghanistan border.

Nazir was killed in a US drone strike on Jan. 2. He was the main militant commander in South Waziristan and sent insurgents to fight US, Nato and Afghan government troops in Afghanistan, and was accused of sheltering Al Qaeda.

He was one of the most high-profile victims of US drone strikes in Pakistan, which Islamabad publicly criticises as a violation of sovereignty but which US officials believe are a vital weapon in the war against militants.

Two militants from Nazir’s group who spoke to AFP accused Kharoti of giving Nazir a digital Quran, fitted with chips to track his movements, during a meeting at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.

“He presented Nazir and others digital Qurans as a gift which were fitted with chips which help US drones strike their targets,” one of the militants said.

“When Mullah Nazir was returning, US drones fired missiles at him in Pakistani area,” he said.