Some 50 people were killed in fresh clashes between pro-government tribesmen and foreign militants in South Waziristan on Wednesday, pushing the overall death toll in two weeks of fighting to around 250, officials said.A tribal army led by Maulvi Muhammad Nazir captured the strategic area of Sheen Warsak west of Wana after a fierce battle in which 19 Uzbeks and five tribesmen were killed, officials said. “Sheen Warsak has fallen to Maulvi Nazir’s men,” they said by phone from Dera Ismail Khan. Reports said three paramilitary soldiers had also been killed during the fighting in Sheen Warsak, but no official confirmation was available.
In a gunbattle in Zaghunday, north of Sheen Warsak, the tribal army killed 25 Uzbeks, said tribesmen reaching Tank city from Wana. South Waziristan administrator Hussainzada Khan told Reuters that 40 foreign militants had surrendered. The officials said an attack on Azam Warsak was imminent. “With control over Sheen Warsak, the anti-Uzbek drive by Maulvi Nazir appears to be gaining ground and an attack on Azam Warsak looks imminent.”
Around 200 Uzbek militants and 50 tribesmen have been killed since March 19, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told reporters in Islamabad. “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,” he said. “I think both the US and NATO will be very happy with the developments in South Waziristan,” former FATA security chief Brig (r) Mehmood Shah said.