Islamic militants on the Afghan border have shot dead two Pakistanis hostages, a government official said..
The hostages, among 14 kidnapped government men, were found in a ditch near a well late on Monday, shot in the head and chest, close to Wana in rugged South Waziristan where they worked as district officials, the military said.
"They were unarmed," Mahmood Shah, the region's security chief, said. The other 12 hostages, all paramilitary troops, were released unharmed on Sunday.
The deaths, which come a day after the Pakistan military said it had killed an al-Qaeda spy chief, heighten tension on Pakistan's remote Afghan border where about 5,000 troops attacked 400 to 500 al-Qaeda and other Islamist fighters in a 12-day offensive that ended on Sunday with more than 100 people dead.
The military said a spy chief in Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, identified only as "Abdullah", was among 63 militants killed in the raid, but the government has yet to find his body or confirm his identity.