KHAR, Pakistan - Suspected Islamic militants have killed a Pakistani soldier in revenge for a missile strike near the Afghan border.

Authorities found the bullet-riddled body of the paramilitary soldier early Friday about 10 kilometres north of Damadola, a village in the northwestern tribal region of Bajur. An explosion destroyed a house in the village on Wednesday, killing about a dozen people. Residents and the provincial governor said it was caused by a missile and suspicion immediately fell on U.S. forces.

Mawaz Khan, a government official in Bajur, said a letter found near the soldier's body said the soldier was killed to avenge the missile strike.

The letter was issued in the name of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group whose deputy leader has also threatened to target Americans to avenge the strike.

However, a spokesman for the group has said it will continue with peace negotiations opened by the new Pakistani government.

"The killing of this soldier is our revenge for the American missile attack," Khan said, quoting from the letter.

It also warned tribal elders that they would meet the same fate if they co-operate with Pakistani authorities.

Bajur-based TTP deputy leader Faqir Mohammed is considered an associate of al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, who escaped a similar air strike, apparently carried out by a CIA drone, in the same village in 2006.

The number and identity of those killed in Wednesday's blast remains unclear. Residents said armed militants quickly sealed off the area and removed bodies.

Islamist parties, regional lawmakers and the governor of Pakistan's volatile North West Frontier Province have condemned the attack as a violation of the country's sovereignty.

Gov. Ovais Ahmed Ghani warned that it would undermine public support for Pakistan's efforts against terrorism. However, the federal government has made no public complaints and insisted the cause of the blast remains unclear. Pakistan's army refused comment.

Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said Friday that Pakistan will raise the issue with U.S. officials.

"We hope such incidents will decrease in future," he said.

Western officials want any peace deal in Pakistan's tribal areas to help ensure that militants cannot use Pakistani territory to mount raids into Afghanistan or plot terrorist strikes further afield.

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