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Uzbek, tribal militants clash

Nirupama Subramanian

106 die in South Waziristan fighting

ISLAMABAD: Fierce fighting has raged between tribal and foreign militants in South Waziristan in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas since Monday, killing more than 100 persons, according to reports reaching here.

AFP said 106 persons were killed in three days of intense fighting. Among the dead were more than 70 Uzbek and 28 tribal militants. Two children were killed when a shell hit a school.

Security and intelligence officials are telling local journalists that the clashes are the result of tribals turning against the foreign militants who they once sheltered and supported.

The Dawn reported that announcements were made over loudspeakers from mosques in some villages in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, exhorting the local people to rise against and wage "jihad" against the foreigners.

This is the second time that tribesmen have clashed with foreign militants in recent weeks. A clash in the first week of March left 17 Uzbeks dead.

The newspaper reported that a tribal militant commander named Maulavi Nazir had given the Uzbeks — their number in Wana is said to range from between 800 to over 1,000 — until Wednesday morning "to surrender, leave or prepare for action."

Officials say they have kept away from the clashes to allow "tribal dynamics" to play their part.

They said the clashes showed that the Government's peace agreements with the tribes had an impact.

Under the peace agreements reached in South and North Waziristan, tribes people were to ask all foreigners to leave in return for the Government halting military operations.

Maulavi Nazir is reported to have had strained relations with the Uzbek militants, affiliated to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, because of their involvement in local crimes.

However, officials also say the clashes began because the tribal militants suspected that the Uzbeks were behind the murder of an Arab militant linked to Al-Qaeda who was living in South Waziristan.

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