Posted on 03/20/2007 10:11:40 AM PDT by blam
Rival militants clash in Pakistan
The Waziristan area is a militant stronghold
Up to 30 people have been killed in fighting between al-Qaeda militants and local pro-Taleban tribesmen in north-west Pakistan, the military says. Heavy shelling has raged since Monday near Wana in the South Waziristan tribal area close to Afghanistan.
The BBC has confirmed only seven deaths, including two school children caught in the cross-fire.
The tribal areas are home to hundreds of foreign militants who fled the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Fractious militants
They are supported by local tribesmen, who also have close ties to the Afghan Taleban.
The militants all want Western troops out of Afghanistan, but there are divisions and power struggles among them.
Reports say two senior Taleban commanders, Baitullah Mahsud and Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani, have gone to the area to try to pacify the two groups and managed to broker a ceasefire in the past few hours.
Children 'dead'
Tensions between the mostly Uzbek fighters and local militants rose after an Arab militant was killed on Sunday.
Taleban spread their wings
High stakes on border
The area has been fraught since similar clashes in which 19 people were killed earlier this month.
Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said 15 to 20 of the dead were foreign militants and most are believed to be Uzbeks.
"The numbers of casualties is rising and we have reports of 25 to 30 dead," he told Reuters news agency.
Maj-Gen Arshad said about 30 people had been wounded in the fighting around Azam Warsak and Kalusha area west of Wana, the region's main town.
However the high number of casualties reported by military and security officials have not been confirmed by the local administration and other sources.
They told the BBC that only seven people had died - five of them Uzbeks and two students.
Another 26 people had been wounded so far in the clashes, local officials told the BBC.
Poor telecommunications in the area has meant that details of the latest clashes are sketchy. But they are reported to stem from differences between local tribesmen and foreign militants over the law and order situation in South Waziristan.
Spring offensive
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says the clashes have turned a large area west of Wana into a battlefield, with both sides dug in in several villages.
Thousands of Pakistani troops are in the area Each side has blamed the other for the outbreak of fighting.
Nato and the Afghan government have criticised Pakistan for recently signing peace deals with militants in South and North Waziristan.
They argue that the agreements have created a safe haven for the Taleban in advance of an expected spring offensive by the militants in Afghanistan.
But the government said the agreements were necessary to reduce the number of Pakistani soldiers who were being killed in the border areas.
More than 700 Pakistani troops have lost their lives in the fight for control over the tribal areas in recent years.
Fence it off and let them go at it. We'll clean out the winners.
Civil war, anybody?
Get a load of this!
Cue the liberal parrot...Civil war, civil war...cut and run, awk....cut and run.
FINALLY, some good news!
I suppose the UN will be working overtime to broker a ceasefire. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will also call for a national day of prayer for peace between the two factions.
That was a little funny, but I didn't mean it the way you took it.
And don't ever call me a Liberal again.
"They told the BBC that only seven people had died - five of them Uzbeks and two students."
Botany students no doubt . . . searching for rare mountain orchids.
On a serious note, thanks for the post! This is very interesting news, particularly coming from the BBC.
Hey, it was just a joke building on the irony you pointed out.
Obviously your power to recognize sarcasm is non-existent.
Ping . . .
Send both sides plenty of guns and bullets.
Where do I send the amo... ;-)
Hopefully Mr. MOAB will drop in
Mushie has been supporting the Taliban of late in exchange for the Taliban cutting support for al-Qaeda.
If we want to win in Warizistan short of nuking it what we need to do is what we are doing in Iraq. Divide and conquor.
Seperate the native fighters (the Taliban) from al-Qaeda. That is exactly what we are trying to do in Iraq.
"Up to 30 people have been killed in fighting between al-Qaeda militants and local pro-Taleban tribesmen"
Awesome!!! We just eliminated 30 terrorists and didn't have to lift a finger
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