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| Thursday, 25 March 2004 |
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Pakistani tribal elders seek to get prisoners freed WANA, Pakistan, Wednesday (Reuters) Tribal elders in Pakistan negotiating an end to a bloody week-long battle between troops and al Qaeda fighters will on Wednesday try to secure the release of 14 government men believed captured last week. But even as the elders were trying to end the battle in the wild South Waziristan tribal area on the Afghan border, militants appeared to be stepping up attacks elsewhere in an effort to divert government forces. Pakistan's army says it has surrounded hundreds of militants in the rugged mountains of South Waziristan. Scores of soldiers, militants and civilians have been killed since the battle erupted last Tuesday when when security forces moved in to hunt al Qaeda suspects and their tribal allies. Tribal elders have been trying for three days to persuade the militants to surrender and release 14 soldiers and officials thought to have been captured by the militants at the start of the clashes. "We're forming a team to try to identify areas where the missing people can be found," one of the elders, Malik Bakhan, said on Wednesday. "We'll also hold a jirga at which we will take some important decisions," he said, referring to a tribal council. He did not elaborate. The fighting in South Warizirstan, west of the town of Wana, flared up on Tuesday evening for about one hour. Early on Wednesday, two attack helicopters hovered over the area where the fighters, including Uzbek and Chechen al Qaeda supporters, have been holed up in well-defended mud-walled compounds, but there was no firing, a Wana resident said.But in an apparent spill-over of the fighting, militants fired three missiles into the heart of the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday evening and wounded two people, police said. A military spokesman declined to say if the attack on Peshawar, and several other raids on army camps and convoys elsewhere in the border region in recent days, might be connected with the fighting in South Waziristan. "It's part of terrorism," said Major-General Shaukat Sultan. The provincial government had sufficient resources to deal with Peshawar's security, he said. The battle in South Waziristan, involving 5,000 troops, is the biggest Pakistan has ever waged in its semi-autonomous tribal area and is part of a big push to sweep foreign militants from the border region and catch al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. |
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