Pakistani tribal elders set off yesterday to try to persuade encircled al-Qaeda fighters and their Pakistani tribal allies to surrender, hours after the rebels attacked an army camp.
The Pakistani army, which says it has hundreds of militants surrounded in a pocket of rugged territory on the Afghan border, said it was willing to cease fire to let the elders talk peace.
"They held a meeting with the political authorities in Wana first and then they left in four or five vehicles for Kaloosha," said one resident of the western town of Wana, referring to a village at the heart of a week of bloody clashes between troops and the militants.
The delegation included 22 elders, and political authorities had given them a radio for communication, the resident said.
The fighting in the fiercely independent tribal region of South Waziristan erupted last Tuesday after security forces moved in to hunt al-Qaeda suspects and their tribal allies. The battle, involving 5,000 troops, is the biggest Pakistan has ever waged in the semi-
autonomous tribal area and is part of a major push to sweep foreign militants from the Afghan border region and catch al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
On Sunday, the army agreed to a ceasefire to let the elders negotiate, but hours later the militants fired rockets at an army camp in Wana. The two sides exchanged fire for more than two hours, a resident said. There was no word on casualties.
Despite the attack, the army said it was still willing to cease firing to give the council of elders, known as a jirga, a chance to talk.
"The jirga are going to go in to ask militants to surrender. For this particular period, the security forces will hold their fire," army spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said.
The Pakistani sweep of its border area comes as US troops in Afghanistan step up the hunt along that side of the border.
The Pakistani army has declined to give casualty figures although local officials have said about 30 soldiers and a similar number of militants have been killed since Tuesday. At least 13 civilians have been killed.
But anger is growing over the offensive and 7,000 protesters gathered in one village on Sunday to demand troops be withdrawn.
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