WANA, Oct 30: Families of the 15 people killed in artillery shelling at Spinkay Raghzay accepted the request of a Mehsud tribal jirga on Saturday to forgive the government.

The jirga, comprising about 200 elders of the Mehsud tribe, also paid Rs700,000 compensation to each family: Rs500,000 on behalf of the political authorities and Rs200,000 from the corps commander Peshawar, Lt-Gen Safdar Hussain.

Reciprocating the government's goodwill gesture, the Mehsud tribe announced that it would cooperate with the security forces to resume search for foreign militants in the Spinkay Raghzay area.

The search operation was suspended when artillery shells hit a pro-government jirga in the Sheikh Ziarat area on Oct 26, 2004, killing 15 persons and injuring 13 others. Earlier, army troops had denied the responsibility and held militants responsible for the act.

The assistant political agent, sub-division Laddah, South Waziristan region, Naveed Arshad, and other officials also accompanied the Mehsud jirga.

A member of the jirga told Dawnthat the local authorities also paid Rs200,000 on behalf of the government and Rs 100,000 on behalf of the corps commander for each of the 13 wounded while offered the job of Class-IV to the victims' families.

In accordance with the tribal tradition, 11 lambs were also taken by the jirga and presented to the victims' families as a Nanawathi.