Tribesmen, Foreign Fighters Clash in Northwest Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, March 20 -- Local and foreign fighters engaged in a gun battle in northwestern Pakistan, leaving at least 46 dead, officials said Tuesday, the second clash this month in an area where the government is urging tribesmen to move against fighters linked to al-Qaeda.

At least two children were also reported killed and about 20 wounded when a stray mortar round from the fighting in South Waziristan hit their school bus.

The clash broke out near the regional capital, Wana, on Monday and continued Tuesday, a senior military official and a senior government official said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The two officials, speaking in Islamabad, said the clash was between pro-government tribesmen and Uzbek militants. However, a local intelligence official said the fighting was part of a feud among rival militant groups. A clash earlier this month between tribesmen and Central Asian militants in South Waziristan killed 18 people.

Pakistan's government, a close U.S. ally, has urged tribesmen to expel Central Asian and Arab militants from areas near the border with Afghanistan, a haven for Taliban fighters where U.S. authorities believe al-Qaeda is regrouping.

However, the local intelligence official said the latest clash was not a simple conflict between pro- and anti-government forces in South Waziristan.

He said the fighting broke out Monday over the killing of an unidentified Arab with suspected links to al-Qaeda, who was an ally of local tribesmen led by Maulvi Nazir, a pro-Taliban leader. The Arab's body was found on the outskirts of Wana.

Local militants blamed the death on the Uzbeks, triggering a gun battle between the two groups in Kalosha, a village west of Wana, he said. About 13 Uzbeks and seven local tribesmen were killed in the fighting, and 35 were wounded, he said.