Karachi, 6 March (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - At least 12 al-Qaeda linked militants were killed on Tuesday in a clash between the militants and tribesmen in the Pakistani tribal area of South Waziristan, which lies on the border with Afghanistan. The Zalikhail tribe of South Waziristan clashed with the militants in the restive tribal region's town of Azam Warsak. The killing was carried out to avenge the killing of their tribesmen by Uzbek militants linked to al-Qaeda.According to sources in South Waziristan, the problem started from a personal rift between a Zalikhail tribesman, Malik Saeed, and a group of Uzbek militants. On Monday some of the Uzbek and Tajik militants opened fire on Malik Saeed and as a result, Malik SaeedÂ’s two brothers and one Afghan refugee in the tribal area were killed. The incident reportedly caused immense resentment among the Zalikhail tribal people and they sent armed youths to search out the killers and execute them. This morning the tribal youths found the group in Azam Warsak market and killed them.
South Waziristan is the home of the Uzbek warlord Tahir Yaldeshiv, the chief of Islamic movement of Uzbekistan, an Al-Qaeda linked group. Reports say that there are hundreds of foreign militants, most of them Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, who have been in hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas having fled there from Afghanistan after the US-led forces removed the Taliban from power in 2001.