KHYBER/LAKKI MARWAT: Suspected terrorists slit throats of two traders from Tirah valley in Khyber tribal district and left their bodies in a hilly area on Tuesday.

Sources in the Tirah valley told Dawn that beheaded bodies of president of the trader organisation Haji Sher Mohammad and another trader, Ibrar, were spotted by residents on the Hodal Sar hilltop in Bhutan Shareef area on Tuesday morning.

They said that Haji Sher and Ibrar were abducted by armed men on Jan 30 and remained in their captivity afterward.

The sources said a local jirga held a series of negotiations with suspected terrorists to secure the release of the two.

The abductors alleged that the kidnapped persons spied on them, leading to the killing offoursuspectedterroristsin anintelligencebased operation on January 25.

Sources said that the suspected terrorists had told jirga members that the four slain terrorists, including two of their leadersAbdul Aziz alias Qari Ismail and Mukhlis, had stayed at the house of Haji Sher prior to their killing in an IOB, but they suspected the trader leader of spying on them and sharing their whereabouts with security forces.

No terrorist group operating in Tirah valley took responsibility for the abduction. The jirga members kept mum about those they were negotiating their release with.

Meanwhile, gunmen killed a cleric and a member of the peace committee in Darra Pezu town of Lakki Marwat district on Monday night.

Police said that Maulana Sanaullah was leading the night prayer (Isha) when six armed men showed up, took him outside, and killed him before fleeing.

They said that the cleric, a native of the Paharkhel Pacca area, was staying in Darra Pezu town to work as a prayer leader.

Widow of the deceased Sobia told police that her husband left the house for the mosque to offer night prayer.

She said that she heard gunshots, came out of the house and rushed to the mosque where she found the body of her husband lying in a pool of blood outside the mosque.

`I came to know that six armed men showed up on three motorcycles, took Sanaullah out of the mosque as he led the prayer, and then killed him with assault rifles,` she claimed.The woman said that her husband was a key member of the peace committee in the PaharkhelPacca area.

Police said the body was taken to the district headquarters hospital for postmortem and a case had been registered against gunmen.

Meanwhile, regional police officer of Bannu Imran Shahid visited the DHQ hospital to inquire after the policemen injured in a roadside blast in Lakki Marwat.

Provincial police officer Zulfiqar Hameed also phoned the wounded cops and directed the hospital management to ensure their best possible care.

Initially, a local police official claimed that a cop was injured when an official van was targeted with an improvised explosive device on Manjiwala link road on Monday.

However, it later emerged that four policemen, who were travelling in the vehicle, received injuries in the blast and were referred from the Government City Hospital in Lakki Marwat to the DHQ hospital in Bannu.

Officials said that the wounded cops were stable and were being treated at the hospital.

The regional police officer said the policemen were in high professional spirit and such cowardly and dastardly terrorist acts could not shatter their strong resolve to eliminate terrorism from the region completely.