Missing Pakistani soldier killed

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Suspected pro-Taleban militants have killed one of the 16 Pakistani soldiers they have abducted in South Waziristan district, officials said.

The headless body of Laiq Hussain was found in a field near a military base in Jandola town, they said.

The militants have threatened to kill the other hostages too unless their demand for a prisoner swap is met.

The troops went missing near the Afghan border on Thursday as they travelled in an area known as a Taleban stronghold.

Pakistan has recently seen increased attacks on the security services.

The attacks followed a bloody battle with radical Islamists last month at the Red Mosque in Islamabad in which more than 100 people died.

Demand for swap

A note in Urdu, Pakistan's main language, was found near Laiq Hussain's body warning that the 15 other hostages would be killed if authorities failed to meet their demand, local official Latifur Rehman was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"If our demands are not met, we will slaughter them one by one," Mr Rehman said, quoting from the message.

He said the kidnappers did not give any deadline.

A three-day deadline for the release of the soldiers, given by the local administration to the Mahsud tribe, in whose area the troops went missing, expired on Monday.

Although no militant group has as yet come forward to say they are holding the soldiers, intelligence officials say a faction of militants in South Waziristan is behind the abductions.

They say the militants are demanding the release of 10 militants who are in government custody.

An official of the tribal administration told the BBC the kidnappers were seeking the release of Taleban prisoners who were being held on charges of blowing up music stores and possessing jackets lined with explosives used by suicide bombers.

The 16 soldiers went missing after leaving in a convoy for the Sararogha area of South Waziristan, a stronghold of the recently killed militant leader Abdullah Mahsud.

Mahsud died last month in a raid near the city of Zhob, Balochistan province.