Pakistani tribesmen, militants talk after clash

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

Tank (Pakistan), Mar 7: Pakistani tribesmen and al Qaeda-linked militants held talks near the Afghan border today after a bloody clash between them in which 17 people were killed, a government official said.

The two sides battled for hours yesterday in the first reported clash between the militants and ethnic Pashtun tribesmen in the area, after the militants tried to kill a pro-government tribal leader. Among the dead were 12 Uzbek militants.

''They're trying to settle the problem themselves. A jirga is under way but we're not part of it,'' said a senior government official in the region, who declined to be identified.

A Muslim cleric, Mohammad Alam, was overseeing the jirga, or traditional council, in Azam Warsak village in the South Waziristan region where the fighting took place, he said.

Hundreds of foreign militants, mostly Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, have been hiding in Waziristan and some other Pakistani areas with the help of tribesmen since fleeing Afghanistan when US-led forces defeated the Taliban in 2001.

Militants in North and South Waziristan have killed dozens of people, including government officials, tribal elders they accuse of supporting the Pakistani government and people accused of spying for US forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government has been trying to clear the foreign militants out as part of its efforts in support of the US-led war on terrorism. Hundreds of people have been killed in clashes.

A Pakistani military spokesman said the clash showed that local people were turning against the foreigners.

''We see this as a very positive development,'' said the spokesman, Major-General Waheed Arshad.

''It shows that the local people are on board and realise that the foreign elements are no longer wanted here.'' An intelligence official said efforts were also being made for the release of three tribesmen captured by Uzbek militants during the fighting.

The fighters were said to be members of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan militant group, accused of a series of bomb blasts in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, in 1999.

Azam Warsak and nearby areas were the scene of fierce clashes in 2004, when Pakistani security forces launched an operation against militants commanded by IMU leader Tahir Yuldashev.

More than 100 people were killed in that fighting but Yuldashev escaped.

REUTERS

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