It’s not over yet: Al Qaeda kills 2 more Pak officials

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 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 is yet to find his body or confirm his identity.

But, military spokesperson Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP: ‘‘He is not really the intelligence chief for all Al Qaeda, but he was one of the top intelligence people in Wana for Al Qaeda.’’

Sultan said he has no details about the name, nationality and identity of the man. Shah too declined commenting on speculation that he may be Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, an Egyptian who is listed in FBI’s 22 ‘‘most wanted terrorists’’.

Pakistani intelligence received radio intercepts indicating the man was an Egyptian known as ‘‘Abdullah’’ in charge of communication equipment in the area where local tribesmen had sheltered Al Qaeda and other foreign fighters, Shah said. But some intercepts suggested he may have been a courier, Shah said.