Rebels kill pro-government tribal leader in Pak

Peshawar (Pakistan), Nov 5: Suspected pro-Taliban militants shot dead a pro-government tribal leader in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, the latest killing in the lawless belt on the Afghan border, a security official said today.

The tribal elder, Zar Wali, was headed home when gunmen ambushed his car in Inzar area, 25 km (15 miles) north of Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, yesterday.

''They killed him on the spot and left his body on the roadside,'' the security official, who requested not to be identified, told Reuters.

Such targetted killings are common in the North and South Waziristan region where Pakistan's government has struck deals with tribal leaders to end clashes between pro-Taliban militants and security forces.

On Friday, the headless body of a cleric was found in the Waziristan region with a note saying was a US spy.

Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt is known as a haven for Islamist militants for decades and a large number of al Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies have taken refuge with their local sympathisers since fleeing the US-led invasion in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Tensions have risen since Monday when Pakistan army helicopters attacked and destroyed an Islamist school or madrasa in Bajaur tribal region, killing around 80 suspected militants. The attack provoked angry protests from tribesmen who said the dead, mostly young men aged between 15 and 25, were students.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the rugged Waziristan during a series of battles between the security forces and militants since late 2003.

Pakistan's government signed a pact with tribal elders in North Waziristan on September 5. to end clashes between pro-Taliban militants and security forces.

Under the deal, the militants promised to stop attacks inside the region as well as across the border in Afghanistan in return for a halt in military operations against them.

REUTERS