WANA, Jan 5: Gunmen shot dead seven tribesmen on Thursday in the restive South Waziristan Agency, officials said. “All seven men of the Kari Khel Wazir tribe were shot dead near a paramilitary camp in the town of Wana,” said an official.

The victims were travelling in a vehicle when the attackers in another vehicle opened fire on them, he said on condition of anonymity.

The identity of the gunmen was not immediately clear, but similar attacks in Wana, the agency headquarters, have been blamed on Al Qaeda and militants linked with Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime.

“It is too early to say anything about the motive of killings and the identity of the attackers,” the official said.

But local residents said the deceased tribesmen belonged to a group of bandits and could be the victims of a campaign launched by the Taliban against criminals in the area.—AFP