Masked gunmen killed an off-duty Pakistani soldier on Monday in a town considered a militant stronghold near the Afghan border after he resisted an attempt to kidnap him, an official said. Four men sprang from a car and tried to abduct Farman Ullah and one of his friends in the main bazaar of Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan region, an intelligence official was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. Ullah was shot three times in the head when he resisted, said the intelligence official. The men, who were armed with assault rifles, bundled Ullah's friend into the car and fled, the official said. Ullah, a soldier from Barokhel, a village near Mir Ali, was home on leave. Authorities were investigating who was behind the attack.
