THE bullet-riddled body lay on a roadside in the tribal region of North Waziristan, an accompanying note giving warning that anyone else suspected of spying for US forces across the border in Afghanistan would meet the same fate.

Khan Malang, a 45-year-old Afghan refugee who disappeared from his home on Wednesday, had, according to Islamic militants, used a satellite phone to contact American military personnel. He became the third person killed on suspicion of spying since the Pakistani Government signed a peace deal with the militants three weeks ago.

The lawless tribal region has fallen under the control of Taleban militants who are enforcing strict Islamic law and using the border area as a command-and-control centre for attacks into Afghanistan.

A US commander claimed yesterday that attacks in eastern border regions of Afghanistan had increased threefold since the Pakistani amnesty began.

The escalation has thrown the country into its worst spate of violence since the overthrow of the hardline Taleban regime in 2001.

The raids have also strained relations between the two neighouring countries.

Tony Blair raised the issue with President Musharraf during private talks at Chequers last night. General Musharraf arrived in Britain from Washington, where he had made a frosty public appearance alongside his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, and President Bush.

General Musharraf has promoted the regional peace deal as a triumph for the Pakistani military, but regional analysts say that it has empowered the Islamic radicals. Militants have set up offices in Miramshah, the regional centre of North Waziristan, under the banner of the Department of Vice and Virtue, with the aim of curbing what they see as antisocial activities.

A shura, or religious council, was created to run the regional administration and mete out justice according to a strict interpretation of Sharia. Taleban militants vowed to enforce harsh punishments for any digression and told local families to report robberies, car thefts and murders. Mosques issued warnings against any defiance.

The Pakistani Army moved into Waziristan three years ago in an effort to curb the militants. But the military made little headway, while at least 500 soldiers were killed in the campaign. Hundreds of civilians and militants were also killed.

After the accord signed on September 5, Pakistan has released hundreds of tribal prisoners captured during the military campaign and returned their weapons. The militants in turn agreed that they would stop crossing into Afghanistan to attack coalition forces. On Wednesday military authorities freed three militants suspected of attacking Nato troops in Afghanistan.

Far from taming cross-border violence, the truce appears to have contributed to a deterioration in the eastern Afghan border provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika. US and Afghan military officials say that the truce has made it easier for militants to operate in the region and to send weapons and fighters across the border.

There have even been reports that the Taleban leader in Afghanistan, Mullah Omar, approved the peace deal. Latif Afridi, a lawyer and tribal leader, said that he has received a copy of a letter containing Mullah Omar’s approval.

Mullah Dadullah, a Taleban commander leading the insurgency against Nato forces in the southwestern Afghan provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, told Pakistani journalists that the truce in North Waziristan had their support.

The reports were a potential embarrassment for General Musharraf, who insists that the deal with the tribesmen had weakened support for the Taleban and prevented cross-border infiltration. He insisted after his arrival in London that his intelligence agencies and military would co-operate more fully with their Afghan counterparts to “meet the challenges” of fighting the militants. Taleban and al-Qaeda militants fled to the semi-autonomous border regions of Pakistan after the Taleban’s overthrow.

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