Pakistani militants beheaded 12 soldiers: Taliban spokesman

    Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Sirajud Din on Friday sent AFP a video showing a Taliban commander posing with 12 heads, claiming to be of the Pakistani soldiers they killed.
 
 
Din said that TTP members "in Bajaur agency have managed to kill the infidel soldiers of Pakistan. Many of them were killed by bullets, 12 of them as you see have been beheaded, you see 12 heads here, and more heads are on the way."
 
This comes after Pakistani security officials said around 15 soldiers had gone missing after Pakistan’s Army launched operations to repel Taliban militants from the village of Batwar in the Bajur tribal district, where Taliban militants have set up strongholds.
 
Similarly, the TTP released in July a video showing the heads of 17 Pakistani soldiers they claimed to have slain in the northwestern district of Upper Dir.
 
Despite the Pakistani government's operations against TTP and associated groups, the militants have still been able to spread their influence across various regions.
 
According to local media outlets, over 35,000 Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001, when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US in the so-called war on terrorism.
 
Thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.