By Agencies

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The Pakistani Taliban claim they have killed 15 paramilitary soldiers in the Spin Tal area in North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border.

Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), said on Thursday the men's bodies were dumped in the area close to the border.

The Pakistani army said it was investigating Ahsan's claim. But local officials confirmed to Reuters news agency that 15 bodies, with signs of torture and gunshot wounds, were found in Tal area.

"We have received dead bodies of 15 kidnapped FC [Frontier Constabulary] men", senior local FC commander Ali Sher Mehsud told AFP news agency.

The TTP spokesperson said the killings were in retaliation for the death of Qari Kamran, an important commander of Pakistani Taliban, who was killed in a recent operation by Pakistani security forces in the Kermina area, near Landikotal, of Khyber Agency bordering Afghanistan.

Qari Kamran was killed along with 12 other suspected members of the Pakistani Taliban.

"This is revenge for the killing of our comrades in Khyber by Pakistani forces. We will soon take revenge for other operations too," Ahsan said.

The 15 members of the Constabulary Corp, a paramilitary force active in the border region with Afghanistan, had been kidnapped from Tank area in South Waziristan on December 22.