Two men were publicly executed in retaliation for an alleged murder after the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) handed them over to the family of the slain man in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.LI chief Mangal Bagh told reporters that the executed men - Islam Badshah and Ziarat Gul - were captured by the LI, while two of their accomplices, Ajmal and Khalid, residents of Mohamand and Bajaur agencies respectively, managed to escape.
He said the men had confessed to killing a taxi driver, Muhammad Umar. They said the men had hired Umar's taxi and took him to Khazana area in Peshawar, where they killed him, Mangal said. He said the LI left it to the taxi driver's family to decide the fate of the accused, adding they refused to forgive the alleged murderers.
The LI handed the men over to the taxi driver's family, which publicly executed them later, Mangal added. Tribesmen blindfolded the two criminals and tied their hands behind their backs before shooting them with rifles, AFP reported their photographer as saying.
Around 500 local tribesmen watched the executions, a local administration official told AFP.
The LI has launched a campaign against crime in Khyber, reminiscent of Afghanistan's Taliban movement, which was in government in Kabul from 1996-2001.