16 February 2004	Monday	24 Zilhaj 1424

WANA, Feb 15: Two more tribesmen wanted in connection with providing shelter to Al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives were sent to jail, taking the number of people detained so far to 39, sources said on Sunday.

One of the two tribesmen, Gul Azam Khan Khojalkhel, was handed over to the political administration by the elders of his tribe, while the other, Samad Khan Karmuzkhel, was held in a raid conducted at an alleged hideout by the law enforcement agencies, the sources said.

The shopkeepers of Karmuzkhel sub-tribes closed their businesses and left the bazaar in fear soon after they heard the news of Samad Khan's arrest. A total of 123 tribesmen were wanted to the political administration for their alleged involvement in sheltering Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the tribal agency.

Of these, 39 were either held or were surrendered to the administration, while four were released after initial interrogation. The sources said the administration faced certain problems in conducting raids for the arrest of the wanted tribesmen.

Meanwhile, the administration made more arrests and sealed four shops, while one Hiace wagon was seized, in an operation launched for the killers of an army man, who was gunned down in the Azam Warsak here last week.

Unidentified assailants had shot dead Badshah Khan Khattak, an army man, in the main bazaar area and fled. It has also been known that the employees and their families living in the Wana scouts camp have been ordered to vacate the residences, so that the army troops of Zeri Noor camp could be shifted here.

Sources said that the administration was planning to launch a big operation in the Azam Warsak area, adding that the employees had been asked to shift for security reasons.

POPPY CROP: Poppy has been cultivated over 30,000 kanals in all the Laddha, Wana and Sarwekai sub-divisions of South Waziristan Agency. The areas where the banned crop was grown included Shawal, Makin, Darra, Tangi Badinzai, Badar, Gurgura, Splatoi, Chakmalai, Maidan, Shikai, Khumrang, Zarmelan, Wana, Toikhula, Gulkatch, Speen Kamar, Lawara, Razin, Larimai and Zhawray.

Sources said that the administration had so far taken no steps to destroy the banned crop which was stated to give a bumper yield this season. The administration had, however, uprooted poppy grown over 110 kanals in the Sarwekai sub-division a few week back.

The sources said that despite the fact that poppy had been cultivated over a large area, a secret agency of the federal government had included the South Waziristan Agency in the list of those areas where no poppy had been cultivated this year.