Pro-Taliban militants call ceasefire in Waziristan

ISLAMABAD, June 25 (Reuters) Pro-Taliban militants today announced a month-long ceasefire today in a Pakistani region on the Afghan border to give tribal elders a chance to broker a settlement after months of fierce fighting.

''We decided that there will be a total ceasefire in the area from our side for one month, as the government wants to set up a tribal jirga here,'' Abdullah Farhad, a commander of the Islamist militants in North Waziristan, told Reuters.

Security forces have killed more than 300 militants, including 75 foreigners in North Waziristan since last year, after the military switched its offensive from South Waziristan.

Several Arab lieutenants of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden have been killed in North Waziristan, and US drone aircraft have carried out missile strikes on al Qaeda targets from across the border in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden is believed to have passed through North Waziristan while making his escape from US-backed forces in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Although bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere on the Afghan-Pakistan border, many security analysts doubt he is in Waziristan, given the security forces' focus on the area.

CALL TO ARMS Levels of violence spiralled in early March after Pakistani helicopter missile strikes destroyed a large contingent of al Qaeda fighters in the mountains on the border, prompting a call to arms by militant Muslim clerics in North Waziristan.

Pakistan has some 80,000 regular army troops on the border with Afghanistan, most of them deployed in North and South Waziristan where al Qaeda-linked militants have been operating alongside Taliban and tribal sympathisers.

''We want tribal jirga (council) to work freely and settle the issue,'' Farhad said.

He said the militants were calling on the government to abolish all new checkpoints in the region and replace security forces deployed at checkpoints with tribal police.

He also demanded the release of detained tribesmen and the reinstatement of officials who had been removed from their jobs in the semi-autonomous region.

''If our demands are fulfilled, we can consider extending the ceasefire,'' Farhad said.

The Governor of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai, welcomed the militants' announcement.

''Every positive step will be responded to positively. We will put their demands before the jirga to discuss them and suggest actions,'' Orakzai told Reuters.

REUTERS KD RN2304