Islamic militants disguised as policemen killed 10 foreign climbers and a Pakistani guide at the base of one of the world’s tallest mountains in northern Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they carried out the shooting to avenge the death of their deputy leader in a U.S. drone strike last month.
“By killing foreigners, we wanted to give a message to the world to play their role in bringing an end to the drone attacks,” Ahsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location. According to the latest reports, the dead foreigners included three Ukrainians, two Slovaks, two Chinese, one Lithuanian, one Nepalese, and one Chinese-American. Both Slovaks who did not survive the attack were experienced climbers; one of them worked as professional rescuer in High Tatras.
