The Pakistani Taliban have stepped up their murder campaign against what they term "U.S. spies" in the tribal agency of North Waziristan. Over the week, the bodies of eight men accused of spying for the United States have turned up in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency. The men are often mutilated or even beheaded. They always have a note pinned to their chest warning others against "spying" for the United States.
One reason for this Taliban murder campaign is a fear that local tribesmen are aiding the United States by designating safe houses and training compounds:
Current and former Pakistani intelligence agents say residents of the area who are helping the United States have access to what locals call "pathris," literally "small things" -- referred to by one agent as a "gadget" -- that can be thrown into homes and used as targeting signals. Military officials declined to comment further on whether the devices map Global Positioning System coordinates, provide an RF signal or use some combination of these or other targeting technologies.
"The attacks have become so precise. In a village, if they want to hit a house in the middle of the village and it's surrounded by other houses, the missile would come and hit that one house only," a resident of North Waziristan, who says he has witnessed numerous missile strikes, told ABC News.
The Taliban lost five senior operational leaders and several mid-level commanders to U.S. airstrikes last year.
The Pakistani government is powerless to stop these murders, and has yet to detain or prosecute a single person for these crimes. The Pakistani military stationed in North Waziristan remain in their garrisons while the Taliban run their Islamic Emirate.
