22 January 2004	Thursday	29 Ziqa'ad 1424

PESHAWAR, Jan 21: An armed tribal lashkar on Tuesday demolished the house of a man accused of harbouring Al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives in Dana, South Waziristan Agency.

Officials said the Kakakhel Lashkar dynamited the house of Maulvi Mohammad Abbas after he did not surrender to the administration. The agency's administrator, Azam Khan, said Maulvi Abbas was among the top suspects who had refused to surrender.

"His name was on number three among the 41 wanted tribesmen," the official said. Other top suspects who have not surrendered include Sharif Khan, Maulvi Naik Mohammad and Noorul Islam.

The official told Dawn from Wana that two more wanted men, Bilal Gurmaz and Jehanzib Gurmaz, had surrendered to the Lashkar. The tribesmen have rounded up 22 suspects.

The government had accused 41 tribesmen of providing shelter to Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the region. Sources said the allied forces had started a search operation on the Afghan side of the border, amid reports that most of the wanted people had fled to remote areas of Shawal.

The tribesmen under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation plan to demolish the houses of more absconding persons in Shakai area of the agency.

Under the FCR, properties of the accused would be confiscated and distributed among the tribesmen and the absconders' entry into the agency banned. Earlier, the administration, on the request of the Ahmadzai tribe, extended the deadline for handing over of some suspects till Wednesday.