Foreigners leaving Pakistan's North Waziristan region

Foreign fighters have started to leave North Waziristan over fears that tribesmen may launch a new operation to evict them, a purported militant spokesman said Sunday.
Some 75 families of foreigners have headed to their respective countries in a month, the spokesman who introduced himself as Gohar Ayub said from North Waziristan over phone.
Ayub said he is speaking on behalf of local Taliban central spokesmen Abdullah Farhad and Tariq Jamil.
President Pervez Musharraf told army generals from 22 countries on Friday that tribesmen had killed some 300 foreigners in South Waziristan and that he wants similar action in North Waziristan.
They decided to leave North Waziristan after the tribal Lashkar launched operation against Uzbeks in South Waziristan.
The foreigners were saying they do not want problems for their women and children, the Taliban spokesman said.
He said that around 50 families, including Chechens, Turkistani, Tajiks and five Arab families, have left for their countries after the action in South Waziristan.
Ayub, speaking in Pashto, said that most of the families have headed for their countries through Afghanistan.
He said the Arabs were scheduled to proceed to Iraq.
It was difficult to verify the claim independently.
He said it may be possible that they come to Afghanistan for Jihad from their respective countries.
However, he said it depends on them either they come to Afghanistan or live in their countries.
When asked if the foreigners were leaving the area on the advice of tribal elders or voluntarily, he said they have themselves taken the decision because the tribal people had started to fight against foreigners in South Waziristan.
He said the foreigners told their local supporters that they would chalk out future strategy after leaving their women and children in their respective countries.
When asked whether the local Taliban would honor the September 5, 2006 peace agreement with the government, the Taliban spokesman said they are strictly following the agreement and if the government doesn't violate it, the local Taliban would never violate it.
He said no one enters Afghanistan from North Waziristan and fighters may be coming to fighting areas from other parts of Afghanistan.
Courtesy: IRNA

Pakistan military back in tribal zone

Pakistani troops have re-occupied part of the tribal area along the Afghan border they left two years ago as part of a peace deal with local leaders.
Pakistani troops were deployed on Friday into the mountainous Shin Warsak area, just west of Wana, the main town of the semi-autonomous South Waziristan tribal agency, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Wahid Arshad told reporters in Islamabad.
The deployment follows a month of clashes between local tribal militias and more than 1000 Uzbek Jihadis who settled in the region after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
It was the first time troops had left their barracks in Wana since a peace deal was signed with local tribal leaders in 2005.
Taliban guerrillas fighting U.S., NATO and Afghan troops in Afghanistan are known to use Pakistan's tribal border areas for safe haven.
Courtesy: UPI