ISLAMABAD, 5 April 2007 — Pakistani tribesmen beating war drums yesterday launched their biggest assault yet against foreign Al-Qaeda militants in South Waziristan after weeks of fighting that have left 250 people dead.

The Pakistan government has hailed the actions of the formerly pro-Taleban tribes who have come over to the government side, saying they show the success of peace deals with tribesmen that have been criticized by Western nations.

Forty-four Uzbek and Chechen rebels were killed yesterday along with seven tribesmen in heavy rocket and mortar clashes in the mountainous region bordering Afghanistan, security officials told AFP.

“This is the result of the agreements the government made with tribal people in which they pledged to expel foreigners and now they are doing it,” Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told reporters in Islamabad. “Around 200 foreign militants have been killed since the start of the fighting and the overall figure including local tribesmen is around 250,” Sherpao said, updating an earlier toll of about 200 dead overall. The clashes broke out on March 19 when an ex-Pakistani-Taleban commander, Maulvi Nazir, ordered foreign militants led by Uzbek extremist Tahir Yuldashev, a one-time confidant of Osama Bin Laden, to disarm or leave the area.

Residents and officials said around 1,000 tribesmen answered a call from their leaders and set off from the regional capital Wana early yesterday to mount a final push against bunkers occupied by the foreign rebels. “Soon after morning prayers there was a heavy sound of war drums and tribesmen were seen leaving in different directions amid shouts of ‘God is Greatest and ‘Victory, victory, victory,’” Malik Sangeen Khan, a resident of Wana, told AFP.

“Since this morning there have been massive sounds of rockets and gunfire. It is louder even than the Pakistani military operations here in 2004.” They said it was the first time for three years that the ethnic Pashtun tribes have played the war song on the drums made from animal hide stretched over wooden frames.

Able-bodied men who refuse to answer the call are fined heavily and their houses are burned down or demolished. “Both sides have been using heavy weapons since this morning and tribal fighters captured important Uzbek bunkers. In one bunker alone 19 foreigners were killed,” one security official said on condition of anonymity.