Fighting in Pakistan border area kills 58

Clashes between foreign militants allegedly tied to Al Qaeda and local militias left 58 dead and scores wounded Wednesday in the restive South Waziristan region, officials said.

The fighting erupted after armed tribal volunteers backed by paramilitary forces and even a pro-Taliban militant group attacked the positions of Uzbek militants in the Shin Warsak area of the mountainous region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

Those killed included 44 Uzbeks and local supporters. The rest of the dead consisted of 10 members of local militias, three paramilitary fighters and a Pakistani soldier, government and security officials said.

The battle was the latest outbreak of violence to hit the lawless region, which has been rocked by heavy fighting since early last month. At least 250 people have been killed, the majority of them reportedly foreign fighters.

Many of the Central Asian militants moved into the border area in recent years, fleeing wars in neighboring Afghanistan or conflicts with governments in their homelands. Although the tribes have given shelter to the foreign militants and embrace a similarly radical form of Islam, hostilities have sprung up between them in recent years.

Pro-government tribal leaders believe the Uzbeks to be behind the killing of about 200 tribal elders over the last two years.

Last month, a clash between a pro-government elder and an Uzbek militant helped set off the latest round of fighting.

American officials have long called on the Pakistani government to rein in foreign militants who they say cross the border into Afghanistan to attack U.S.-led forces.

The Pakistani government, which has had little success in controlling the remote region, agreed last year to draw down the number of its troops in exchange for a promise from tribal leaders to disarm or expel foreign fighters.

Wednesday’s clashes came a day after tribal leaders in the regional center of Wana reportedly beat drums to muster a 900-strong lashkar, or army, to flush out the foreigners and their collaborators.

The militiamen launched an assault on positions held by the Uzbeks in the Shin Warsak and Jaghundai areas about 6 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. The confrontation led to a furious exchange of rocket and machine-gun fire.

Witnesses said Pakistani security forces joined in the fighting, but government officials insisted that they offered only minimal support and that the tribal volunteers were at the forefront of the fight.

The newly formed militia dislodged the foreign fighters from bunkers that had been built and later abandoned by Pakistani security forces on a hilltop in Shin Warsak.

In addition, officials said, tribal volunteers entered the village of Kaloosha and encircled the house of a pro-Uzbek militant commander, Noor Islam, but he was not home at the time.