ISLAMABAD, 31 March 2007 — Fierce fighting between tribesmen and foreign militants in the tribal region killed 52 people yesterday, including 45 Uzbek and Chechen rebels, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said. Other reports put the toll at 56.
Sherpao said seven tribesmen also died in battles in South Waziristan, a lawless region used as a rear base by Taleban militants fighting in Afghanistan and where the United States fears that Al-Qaeda is regrouping. Sherpao told Arab News the two sides traded heavy rocket and mortar fire.
Associated Press quoted the minister as saying that the latest deaths brought to 213 the number of people killed since the fighting began last week, including 177 Uzbeks and their local allies.
The minister said the conflict intensified yesterday after foreigners failed to comply with an ultimatum from tribal elders to leave their territory. Security officials said tribal militias had fired rockets at the hide-outs of the foreigners in several locations.
An aide to Maulvi Nazir, the leader of the purportedly pro-government side in the conflict, said earlier yesterday that they had killed 35 Uzbeks and lost 10 of their own men. He said both sides were using heavy weapons. The aide, who spoke to AP by telephone, asked for anonymity to prevent enemies from identifying him.
South Waziristan is generally off limits to journalists, making it hard to verify reports of the fighting.
Earlier a security official said tribesmen overnight seized control of a school which the foreigners were using as their base in Ghawakha, a town near Wana, killing seven Uzbeks.
Another official said three tribal fighters were also killed and six wounded in the fighting. Residents said the militants also shot dead a local man who was traveling in the area on his motorbike.
The latest clashes were concentrated in the mountainous Azam Warsak, Shen Warsak and Kalusha areas of South Waziristan. Residents say between 300 and 500 Uzbeks and Chechens are holed up in the area.
The Uzbeks were effectively under siege in the mountainous terrain as all roads leading to the troubled towns were being controlled by commander Nazir, whose men are said to number around 1,500, they said.
A tribal leader, Haji Sharif, late Thursday ruled out any negotiations with the foreigners.
“We gave them shelter under our traditional Pashtun hospitality but they misused it and killed our people including tribal leaders,” he said.
“We advised them to change their behavior but they did not listen. Now we cannot tolerate them on our soil.”
The government has claimed that the violence in South Waziristan vindicates its policy of using traditional leaders, and not the army, to combat militancy along the border.
The government claims Nazir, a tribal chief previously aligned with the Taleban, has come over to their side.
Some analysts, however, say militants with links to Taleban and Al-Qaeda are involved on both sides of the current conflict, which also pits local tribes against each other.
Hundreds of Central Asian and Arab militants linked to Al-Qaeda fled to this semi-autonomous region after the collapse of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan and forged alliances with local tribes. Other Uzbeks opposed to the regime of President Islam Karimov in their homeland have reportedly since joined them from Uzbekistan.
