Militants kill soldier in Pakistan tribal area

Suspected Islamic militants have killed a Pakistani soldier in revenge for an alleged U.S. missile strike near the Afghan border, an official said Friday.

Authorities found the bullet-riddled body of the paramilitary soldier early Friday about 6 miles north of Damadola, a village in the northwestern tribal region of Bajur.

An explosion destroyed a house in the village on Wednesday, killing about a dozen people. Residents and the provincial governor said it was caused by a missile.

Mawaz Khan, a government official in Bajur, said a letter found near the soldier's body said the soldier was killed by militants to avenge the alleged strike. The note included a warning for tribal elders that they would meet the same fate if they cooperate with Pakistani authorities.

"The killing of this soldier is our revenge for the American missile attack," Khan said, quoting from the letter.

The letter was issued in the name of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a militant umbrella group whose deputy leader has threatened to target Americans to avenge the strike.

However, a spokesman for the group has said it would continue with peace negotiations opened by the new Pakistani government.

Bajur-based TTP deputy leader Faqir Mohammed is considered an associate of al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, who escaped a similar air strike, apparently executed by a CIA drone, in the same village in 2006.