WANA, 2 April 2007 — Pakistani tribesmen and foreign Al-Qaeda militants traded rocket and heavy weapons fire in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan yesterday, leaving 10 people dead, officials and witnesses said.
Fierce battles were fought between pro-government tribesmen and militants near Wana, the main town of the lawless South Waziristan district where more than 200 people have died in fighting in the past two weeks, they said.
The clashes since late Saturday killed five foreign fighters and five local tribesmen, while troops also shelled militants’ positions, they said.
Militants stormed a house of local journalist Din Mohammed near Sheen Warsak, killing his father and 15-year-old brother, while three attackers died when tribesmen fought back, relatives said.
Mohammed, who works for regional newspapers, is known for his links with pro-government tribesmen whom he had put in touch with journalists from other cities, they said.
The militants took four hostages but it was not immediately known whether Mohammed was among them, they said.
Another three local tribesmen and two Al-Qaeda linked militants were killed in separate clashes, also in Sheen Warsak, security officials said.
Al-Qaeda linked militants are holding some 36 local tribesmen, while two Uzbek women and a foreign militant were captured by pro-government tribesmen, officials said.
Meanwhile, commander Maulvi Nazir called a meeting of local tribes for today to enlist up to 300 armed men as the fighting escalates, according to a resident who heard announcements from mosques’ loudspeakers.
Pakistan’s security forces were also caught in the firing line, leaving four soldiers dead. The soldiers were killed when a rocket fired during the fighting struck a military post near Wana, said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, the army’s top spokesman. Arshad did not say which side might have fired the rocket.
Army troops began firing artillery from a base in Wana toward Uzbek positions yesterday, an intelligence official, based in South Waziristan, said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive of his job.
But Arshad said Pakistani security forces have not intervened in the clashes between the foreign militants and their local supporters, and the tribesmen who want to oust them.
The government claims that Nazir, a tribal chief previously aligned with the Taleban, has come over to their side and is leading the fight against foreign militants.
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told AFP late Friday that 56 people were killed on Thursday and Friday, 45 of them foreigners, as fighting “intensified after peace talks failed.”
