About 100 killed in Pakistani border clashes

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 50 people were killed in fighting between al Qaeda-linked militants and Pakistani tribesmen near the Afghan border on Wednesday, taking the death toll in three days of fighting to about 100.

The fighting follows a break-down in relations between the al Qaeda-linked militants and the tribesmen who previously sheltered them. The government has been urging the ethnic Pashtun tribesmen to bring the foreigners under control.

Tribesmen in the South Waziristan region also called for holy war against the foreign militants, most of whom are Uzbeks.

"Thirty-five foreign militants and 15 tribesmen were killed in today's fighting," said a security official who declined to be identified.

Nearly 50 people, including 35 foreign militants, were killed in fighting on Monday and Tuesday, government and security officials said.

Pakistani security forces say they are not involved.

Hundreds of foreign militants, including Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, fled to the semi-autonomous tribal lands on the Pakistani side of the border after U.S.-led forces defeated the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

Most ethnic Pashtun tribesmen, who inhabit both sides of the Pakistani-Afghan border, gave the militants refuge despite government efforts to clear the foreigners out as part of its efforts in the war on terrorism.

Fighting between the foreign militants and the Pashtun tribesmen first erupted on March 6, after the militants tried to kill a pro-government tribal leader. Seventeen people, most of them Uzbeks, were killed then.

This week's clashes are a resumption of that battle, security officials said.

"SOURCE OF PROBLEMS"

On Monday and Tuesday the fighting took place in Azam Warsak and Shin Warsak, two villages west of South Waziristan's main town of Wana. Wednesday's clashes centered in nearby Kalusha village.

"Today's was the fiercest fighting," the government security official said.

Although South Waziristan has long been a hotbed of support for Islamist militants, officials and residents said the inhabitants had had enough of the foreigners.

"Most people are against them because they are the main source of security problems in our area," said a resident, who declined to be identified.

After the fighting resumed on Monday, calls were made in mosques in Wana urging people to join a jihad, or Muslim holy war, against the Uzbeks, residents said.

Residents say up to 1,200 Uzbeks are in the region. The Pashtuns refer to them as "gungas", meaning the dumb ones because they can't speak the Pashto language.

Most are members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan militant group commanded by Tahir Yuldashev.

Pakistani forces launched a major operation against the militants in the area in 2004. Hundreds of people were killed but Yuldashev escaped and is at large.

Authorities have struck deals with tribal elders in South and North Waziristan aimed at ending fighting with Pakistani forces and raids into Afghanistan. But U.S. and Afghan military officials say the pacts have not stopped cross-border attacks.