Missing Pakistani police officer's body found in Afghanistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - The body of a Pakistani police officer who went missing in Islamabad last month was found in neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry and the Afghan ambassador said.

Tahir Khan Dawar disappeared on Oct. 27 and was presumed abducted by militants. The case baffled authorities as Islamabad is one of the safest cities in Pakistan.

Dawar's body was handed over to authorities by Afghan officials at the Torkham border crossing, authorities s said Thursday.

Photographs purporting to show Dawar's badly beaten and tortured body surfaced on social media on Wednesday. The body was later found in Afghanistan's volatile Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, with a hand-written note saying he was abducted and killed by a little-known militant group, Pakistani officials said.

Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan, promised Kabul would investigate.

Interior Minister Shaharyar Afridi told lawmakers Thursday that Pakistan would pursue whoever killed Dawar. "He twice escaped suicide bombings in recent years," he said of Dawar.

Afridi said Dawar was kidnapped from Islamabad and then transported to Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban denied any role in Dawar's abduction and killing.

Dawar was to be buried in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday evening.

Pakistan and Afghanistan often accuse each other of turning a blind eye to militants who carry out attacks in both countries.

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Associated Press writer Amir Shah contributed from Kabul, Afghanistan.