The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Miranshah

Taliban militants killed three men in Pakistan's troubled tribal region near the Afghan border after accusing them of spying for the United States and Islamabad, an official said Sunday.

The incident in North Waziristan was the latest in a string of similar killings in the rugged mountainous region, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

The body of one of the alleged spies, 25-year-old Rahim Gul, was found Sunday with multiple gunshot wounds and a broken arm near a market in the tribal area's main town Miranshah, a security official told AFP.

He said the bodies of the other two men -- 22-year-old Inayatullah Khattak and 18-year-old Shooti Bannu-were hung from a bridge in a village outside the town of Mir Ali.

They had first been shot dead.

He said the killers left a note with the bodies saying, "Those spying for the US and ISI will suffer the same fate."

The ISI is Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Militants have killed dozens of local tribesmen and Afghan refugees on alleged charges of spying, mainly for the Pakistani government or US forces operating across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's lawless tribal areas have been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels sought refuge in the region after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan toppled the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001.