More than 100 killed in tribal Pakistan

Islamabad, Mar 21 (UNI) The death toll in the ongoing battle between local tribesmen and militants, loyal to pro-al-Qaeda Uzbek commander Tahir Yuldashev, rose to 106 in Pakistan's restive tribal region of South Waziristan today.

The fighting erupted after Mullah Nazir, a local tribal elder, who is backing Pakistan's government policies in Wana, the administrative center of South Waziristan, asked Yuldashev's followers to surrender.

Reports reaching here from Wana suggested that the government's troops deployed in the area also fired rockets on the suspected militants after their camp came under attack today.

Tahir, who is wanted in Uzbekistan for his involvement in different acts of terror, fled to Pakistan from Afghanistan after the US-led international coalition's military operation in the war-torn country, which toppled government of radical Taliban in December 2001.

He was last seen in South Waziristan two years ago after he sustained injuries in a military operation. Since then, he has been missing.

UNI