22 July 2004	Thursday	04 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

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PESHAWAR, July 21: Tribal leaders in Wana, South Waziristan, on Wednesday handed over six relatives of two local militants suspected of supporting Al-Qaeda to authorities, a local source told Dawn by telephone.

The suspected militants, named as Maulvi Abbas Kakakkhel and Javed Kirmaskhel, have refused to surrender. Informed sources told Dawn by phone that Kurmazkhel and Malikdinkhel tribes, two sub-clans of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe, handed over the six tribesmen, including the father of a wanted militant, to the authorities.

Both the militants have refused to surrender. However, they have given an assurance to the authorities, conveyed through some tribal leaders who met them recently at an undisclosed location, that they would no more be involved in militant activities in the region.

The decision to turn their family members over to security forces came after a two-hour tribal meeting and was followed by a promise from government officials to open up inter-agency roads and stop demolition of houses of relatives of the militants.

In a related development, four soldiers were wounded when an army pick-up hit a land-mine near Wana, South Waziristan tribal region, on Wednesday. The soldiers were taken to the Army Brigade Headquarters in Zari Noor Colony. The army vehicle was partially damaged in the incident.

Locals reached by phone in Wana, told Dawn that the fighting had stopped between security forces and militants in Santoi, Mantoi and Dand areas after Tuesday's air strikes.

A tense calm pervaded the region after the army pick-up hit the landmine in Gaza Pizza, about one kilometre east of Wana. Three troubled areas - Santoi, Mantoi and Dand - remained peaceful after three days' continuous shelling and bombardments by the government forces.

Pakistan Air Force F-7 jets and gunships bombed some locations in the troubled areas and destroyed some positions of the militants. The militants fired rockets and missiles on the Scouts' Camp in Wana on Tuesday night.

Witnesses said that several rockets and missiles were fired on the camp from south and north-east locations. The security forces retaliated and an exchange of fire between the forces and militants continued for more than three hours. No casualty was reported from any side.

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