'US spies' killed in tribal area

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Pro-Taleban militants have killed two men they accused of spying against them in a Pakistani region near the Afghan border, officials say.

Villagers found the bodies just east of Miranshah town in North Waziristan region late on Monday, officials said.

They were riddled with bullets, with their hands tied behind their backs.

There have been a number of such killings in Pakistan's tribal areas in recent months, which local officials blame on pro-Taleban militants.

'Throat slit'

No one has admitted killing the men, who officials said appeared to be Afghan refugees. They have yet to be formally identified.

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"Their bodies were riddled with bullets and the throat of one of the bearded men was slit," a local resident, Mohammad Ayub, told Reuters news agency.

He said a note found nearby said: "Those spying for America will meet the same fate."

Last week, the headless body of another Afghan refugee was found dumped near Miranshah with a similar note.

Pakistan's government has signed controversial peace deals with militants in its tribal areas. Tribesmen pledged to end targeted killings and to stop harbouring foreign militants in return for troops maintaining a lower military presence.

Recent air strikes by the military on alleged militant bases in the tribal areas have raised tensions.

Tens of thousands of Pakistani troops were sent to the volatile region on the border with Afghanistan to try to curb attacks on Afghan targets launched from Pakistani soil.

President Pervez Musharraf's decision to support the US in its "war on terror" angered many of his opponents in Pakistan.