Foreign militants, Pakistani fighters, trade fire

Wana (Pakistan), Mar 21: Al Qaeda-linked foreign militants traded mortar fire with Pakistani tribesmen today, the military said, in an area near the Afghan border where inhabitants have called for holy war against the militants.

Nearly 50 people, at least 35 of them foreign militants, were killed in clashes on Monday and yesterday in the remote South Waziristan tribal region, Pakistani government and security officials said. Most of the militants were Uzbeks, they said.

The two sides traded mortar fire in Azam Warsak and Shin Warsak, two villages west of South Waziristan's main town of Wana, early today but there were no reports of casualties, residents said.

''Scattered firing is going on but we are not involved,'' a military official said.

Hundreds of foreign militants, including Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, fled to the semi-autonomous tribal lands on the Pakistani side of the border after U S-led forces defeated the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

Most ethnic Pashtun tribesmen, who inhabit both sides of the Pakistani-Afghan border, gave the militants refuge despite Pakistani government efforts to clear the foreigners out as part of its efforts in the war on terrorism.

Fighting between the foreign militants and the Pashtun tribesmen first erupted in the area on March 6, after the militants tried to kill a pro-government tribal leader.

Seventeen people, most of them Uzbeks, were killed.

This week's clashes are a resumption of that battle, security officials said.

Although South Waziristan is known as a hotbed of support for Islamist militants, officials and residents said the clashes showed that the inhabitants had turned against the foreigners.

''Most people are against them because they are the main source of security problems in our area,'' said a resident, who declined to be identified.

After the fighting resumed on Monday, calls were made in mosques in Wana urging people to join a jihad, or Muslim holy war, against the Uzbeks, residents said.

Residents say up to 1,200 Uzbeks are in the region. The Pashtuns refer to them as ''gungas'', meaning the dumb ones because they can't speak the Pashto language.

Most are members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan militant group commanded by Tahir Yuldashev.

Pakistani forces launched a major operation against the militants in the area in 2004. Hundreds of people were killed but Yuldashev escaped and is at large.

Tribal elders, backed by the government, struck a deal in South Waziristan in 2005 which allowed foreign fighters to stay if they did not get involved in attacks in Pakistan or raids into Afghanistan.

A similar agreement was struck in North Waziristan in September last year but US and Afghan military officials said cross-border attacks intensified several fold after the deal.

REUTERS

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