12 February 2004	Thursday	20 Zilhaj 1424

MIRAMSHAH, Feb 11: A tribal jirga (council meeting) has decided to raise a Lashkar (militia) to hunt down Taliban and Al Qaeda fugitives in the rugged region, local officials said.

Hundreds of Utmanzai tribesmen held a jirga here and decided to raise the Lashkar in North Waziristan Agency. "They have vowed to catch Al Qaeda and Taliban men in the area and hand them over to the government," the agency administrator, Sherzada Khan, told Reuters.

He said that the jirga also decided to demolish the houses of those giving sanctuary to foreign militants and impose a fine of Rs5 million on their tribe. -Reuters