Pakistan Officials Applaud Fighting in Tribal Region

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 22 -- An intense clash between local tribesmen and foreign al-Qaeda fighters that has left approximately 130 people dead this week is prompting hope among Pakistani officials that resentment toward the outsiders is growing.

The battle, in the semiautonomous region of South Waziristan, has involved thousands of fighters. Local Pashtun tribe members -- including many Taliban supporters -- have squared off against Uzbek, Chechen and Arab militants, who since 2001 have massed near the border to plan attacks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, officials say. Most of those killed have been foreigners. About 10 civilian bystanders have also been killed this week, and many more have fled.

Pakistani officials say the fighting validates their counterterrorism strategy: allowing tribal leaders to evict al-Qaeda on their own, without the direct help of the Pakistani army. But analysts say that the tribes have their own reasons for battling the foreign fighters and that this latest violence could further distance the region from central government authority.

Waziristan, which is remote and relatively lawless, has become a haven for al-Qaeda in recent years, and the United States has been pressing Pakistan to do more to oust the group. Pakistan's army has tried and largely failed to extricate the foreign fighters on its own.

"For the first time ever, the local tribesmen have taken up arms against the foreign militants in South Waziristan. This is a big breakthrough," Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said in an interview.

Officials have recently begun to concede that the fighters are present in large numbers and that they are attacking targets on both sides of the border. Sherpao acknowledged that "the size of the Central Asian and Arab guerrilla force far outnumbered our estimate of foreigners hiding in this area."

Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, a military spokesman, said that the Pakistani army was not directly aiding the tribal forces but that those groups are responding to government calls for action. Pakistan's government has told tribal authorities that the presence of foreign fighters could prompt U.S. or Pakistani strikes against suspected hide-outs. It has also offered financial incentives for driving the al-Qaeda fighters out.

"We have asked the tribal governments to take responsibility for their areas and not shelter foreign militants," Arshad said. "That is what they are doing."

Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, hinted in an interview Monday that the country's approach in Waziristan was yielding results.

"We have launched a new strategy in the north and south, and there are breakthroughs. We are already hearing good news from there," Musharraf told Pakistan's Geo News TV channel.

Talat Masood, a military analyst and retired general, however, urged caution. He said the fighting could lead to new problems.

"This is movement in the right direction. But I hope it doesn't lead to a situation where the militants establish their own control and don't listen to what the government has to say," Masood said.

Masood said the tribal leaders, who already possess considerable autonomy, are fighting not because they support the government. Instead, he said, they are battling the foreigners to show their own people they are still capable of providing security.

Tension between the tribal members and the foreign fighters has been simmering for months. Tribesmen had accused the foreigners of violating local customs, and the foreigners had begun to accuse locals of spying for the Pakistani and U.S. governments, according to a local official.

Uzbek militants had already beheaded a number of local people, according to Maulana Mairajuddin, a member of a far-right religious party who represents South Waziristan in Parliament.

Mairajuddin -- who spoke by satellite phone from Wana, a town where much of the violence has taken place -- said the fighting this week started with the abduction of four local women by the Uzbeks. Mairajuddin said he wished locals and the foreigners would stop fighting each other and return to battling U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan.

"This is the worst news for those who hate the occupation of foreign forces in neighboring Afghanistan," he said.

Khan reported from Karachi.