Pak urges tribesmen to expel foreign militants

Miranshah (Pakistan), June 24: Pakistan urged tribesmen in its Waziristan region today to expel al Qaeda linked militants, two days after 10 Pakistani civilians were killed during a NATO operation over the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's military said some rockets fired by international forces flew across the border into North Waziristan during Friday night's battle, killing and wounding civilians.

Waziristan lies on the opposite side of the frontier to Afghanistan's Paktika province and is a known route for Taliban and al Qaeda militants who criss cross between both countries.

More than 40 rebels were believed killed in Friday's offensive by NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistani authorities struck a peace deal in North Waziristan in last September aimed at marginalising foreign militants, but critics say the pact merely created a sanctuary for the insurgents.

Authorities in North Waziristan called a ''jirga'' or traditional meeting of tribal elders to discuss the security situation.

''The presence of foreigners will be harmful not only for yourself, but for entire North Waziristan,'' Peerzada Khan, the political agent, or top administration official in the region, told the jirga.

There has been no word from NATO-led forces on the cross-border firing but Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said they had apologised for the incident and had stated that it was inadvertent firing.

Pakistan is an important ally in the US-led war on terrorism but the alliance is unpopular with many Pakistanis -- mainly among the ethnic Pashtun tribes living on border with Afghanistan.

The government is sensitive to any report of foreign forces carrying out operations on its territory or using its airspace, but earlier this week 33 militants were killed in an apparent missile attack -- possibly by Afghan-based U.S. forces -- on a hamlet in North Waziristan.

Many Taliban and foreign al Qaeda militants fled to Pakistan's lawless tribal belt after US-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Taliban regime in 2001.

Pakistan acknowledge cross-border incursions by the militants but urges international and Afghan forces to tighten frontier controls on their side.

REUTERS

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