MOSCOW, June 23 (RIA Novosti) – The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for killing a group of tourists, including one Russian, five Ukrainians and three Chinese, as retaliation for a leader’s death in a US drone attack, The Associated Press reported Sunday, citing a Taliban spokesman.
No Americans appear to have been killed in the attack. According to local officials, at least a dozen Islamic militants dressed in police uniforms shot the nine tourists and a local guide on Sunday after rousing them from their sleep in a hotel at the foot of the world’s ninth-highest mountain, Nanga Parbat, in northern Pakistan.
The Taliban spokesman, who the AP cited as speaking from an undisclosed location, said the local branch Jundul Hafsa had executed the tourists to avenge the killing of Taliban deputy leader Waliur Rehman by a US drone on May 29.
"By killing foreigners, we wanted to give a message to the world to play their role in bringing an end to the drone attacks," the news agency quoted Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan as saying.