Authorities found the bodies of 15 Pakistani security personnel in the country's northwest tribal region, officials said Thursday.

The security officials had been kidnapped two weeks ago in Tank, an area south of Peshawar near the Afghan border, said Ali Sher, a senior security official.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibly for the killings, said Ihsanullah Ihsan, a spokesman for the militant group.

Ihsan said the execution was in response to a search operation for militants conducted last week in the country's Landi Kotal tribal area, where several women were arrested by Pakistani security forces.

The security personnel belonged to the Frontier Constabulary, a special police unit deployed in Pakistan's North Western region, charged with fighting militancy at a local level, said Majid Marwat a senior commander with the unit.