27 August 2004	Friday	10 Rajab 1425

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WANA/MIRAMSHAH, Aug 26: Two soldiers were killed and six others wounded when a military truck was blown up by a remote-controlled device in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region on Thursday.

According to witnesses, the explosive device went off when a military convoy was heading towards Tiarza, about 30 kilometres north of Wana. Official sources said that sepoys Tariq and Mazher had been killed and six others injured in the blast.

Villagers heard a loud explosion when the device went off, creating panic in the area. The wounded soldiers have been identified as Hawaldar Rashid, Naik Iftikhar Gul, Lance Naik Amanullah, Sepoy Faiz, Sepoy Shahid and Sepoy Saher Ali. The vehicle was also damaged.

Another bomb went off on the Wana-Dera Ismail Khan road when a military vehicle hit an explosive device. Officials said that the vehicle was partially damaged but the explosion did not cause any casualty.

ANGRY TRIBESMEN: Meanwhile, angry tribesmen in Miramshah demanded return of the bodies of three 'foreigners' killed during a military operation in Bangi Dar. The villagers claim that those killed in the operation are the residents of North Waziristan region, and not foreigners.

The dispute arose when tribal ulema rejected the government's claim that the three militants killed during the military operation were Uzbek nationals. The ulema say that the four people killed in the early morning operation were tribesmen.

After the operation, ISPR spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan had claimed that three of the four miscreants killed in the operation were foreigners. He also claimed that one foreigner and his tribal accomplice had been arrested in the raid while a number of militants' hideouts had been destroyed.

About 500 armed Taliban and clerics from various seminaries approached the Assistant Political Agent Rashid Ahmad of Mirali tehsil on Wednesday and demanded the bodies.

They gave the authorities a 24-hour ultimatum to hand over the bodies or "face the consequences." The tribesmen identified the four as Munirullah Borakhel, Ahmad Hussain, son of Dr Nabat Dawar, Azem Khan Borakhel Wazir and Abdur Rashid, son of Abdul Karim.

Official sources said that a 25-member delegation of ulema headed by Maulvi Abdur Rehman had met Political Agent Dr Fakhr Alam in Miramshah on Monday and presented their demand.

The sources further said that the ulema had also presented the national identity cards of the deceased to the political agent as proof of their nationality.

The sources quoted the political agent as telling the delegation that the bodies were in the custody of the army and they had been taken to Rawalpindi.