Pakistani Taliban insurgents executed 21 of 23 policemen in a region bordering Afghanistan, a senior official said on Sunday.
Rebels had taken the men from the Levies tribal police force prisoner Thursday after overrunning two outposts in the Hassankhel region near Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
Regional administration official Naveed Akbar said authorities had received information about the executions overnight, and later found the bullet-riddled bodies of 21 Levies personnel in Hassankhel.
"One policeman having serious injuries is under treatment at the LRH (main hospital in Peshawar)," Akbar wrote in his official report about the incident.
A lone policeman identified as Usman Sher who escaped from captivity was found alive with "severe bruises."
Akbar had asked tribal elders in the region to help authorities in recovering the Levies men, setting a deadline for Monday.
In recent days, media reports had quoted security sources as saying that the political administration detained more than a dozen suspects over suspension of Taliban links and razed at least four houses - a tribal tradition to punish suspects.
Akbar said the tribal elders were expected to share their version of details about the incident on Monday.
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah said his militia was open to negotiate peace with the government but it would not disarm.