DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Militants shot dead a senior tribesman with close ties to the US-backed Afghan government Monday, an official said. Nazimuddin Gangikhel was driving in a pickup truck when gunmen opened fire from a parked car in South Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the intelligence official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of his job. Gangikhel was heading to his village of Angoor Ada when he was ambushed near Wana, South Waziristan's main town, the official said. The slain tribesman regularly travelled to the Afghan capital, Kabul, and met officials of that country's American-backed government, the official added.