Taliban slits throats of two "US spies": officials
Public execution turns into chaotic gun battle, injuring 8
Pakistani Taliban militants executed two Afghans in front of thousands of people on Friday after accusing the men of spying for U.S. forces, an AFP correspondent and officials said.
Gunfire also broke out in the crowd after the killings near Khar, the main town in the troubled northwestern tribal district of Bajaur, leaving another eight people injured, the correspondent and witnesses said.
The militants beheaded one man and shot dead the other after accusing them of passing information to coalition forces in Afghanistan that led to a missile strike in Bajaur in May which killed 14 people.
"There was a public execution by militants of two people who were kidnapped two days ago by Taliban on spying charges," a local security official told AFP, adding that it occurred 10 kilometers (six miles) west of Khar.
An AFP correspondent who witnessed the executions said more than 5,000 people had gathered at the patch of open ground to watch.
The Taliban then announced on megaphones that the men were spies who provided information to U.S. forces in Afghanistan that prompted May 14's air raid.
"The men's faces were covered and their hands were tied. One was slaughtered with a knife, the other was shot with a burst of fire from a Kalashnikov," the correspondent said.
After the executions the Taliban started firing in the air in jubilation, but when some shots fired from within the crowd it sparked a brief gun battle in which eight people were hurt.
"It was complete chaos, we managed to survive," a witnesss said.
In May militants beheaded a Pakistani paramilitary soldier and dumped his corpse with a note saying that he was killed in revenge for the missile strike in the Damadola area of Bajaur.
The missile strike targeted the houses of two local militant leaders, according to security officials.
Violence has risen in Pakistan's northwest in recent days despite ongoing peace talks between militants and the government, with reports this week saying that the main northwestern city of Peshawar was now under threat.
The execution came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Pakistan's failure to put pressure on Taliban forces on the border was a "concern".