MIRAMSHAH (North Waziristan), July 16: Thousands of emotionally charged tribesmen, raising anti-US slogans, buried on Saturday 24 suspected militants killed inside Pakistan by US forces operating from across the border in Afghanistan.

Four of the victims were identified as foreigners hailing from a Central Asian state and Sudan, while remaining 20 were local tribesmen.

Coalition forces in Afghanistan’s Paktika province had targeted a group of militants in the Lawara Mandi area of the North Waziristan Agency while they were escaping into Pakistan, according to military authorities.

However, unofficial reports said that the coalition forces had hit a group of tribal volunteers carrying bodies of 10 comrades who had been killed during an overnight clash on the other side of the border.

Sources said that out of 24 victims, three were identified as Turkmens and one as a Sudanese, while the rest hailed from the North and South Waziristan agencies. Witnesses said that the Sudanese had been dressed in US military uniform.

Some of the killed tribesmen were identified as Azeemullah, Rasool Salam, Abdul Khaliq, Noorullah, Abdul Malik, Dost Ali, Munir Khan, Akbar Khan, Hafiz, Mohammad Nawaz, Gulzar and Haq Nawaz. The identity of the remaining ones was not established.

Military sources said that the army troops continued search operation in Lawara Mandi near the border on the second consecutive day and arrested five more suspects.

Earlier, the security forces detained seven tribesmen during a house-to-house search operation in the area on Friday.

Sources said that the suspects were shifted to an undisclosed military base in helicopters.

Reuters adds: “These 24 people are martyrs and our entire Waziristan region is ready for jihad (holy war),” Maulana Abdur Rehman, a local prayer leader, said at the funeral of two suspects.

Military officials said that the killed militants included Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies.

The US military said that its forces had killed the suspected militants after coming under rocket fire from across the border. One Afghan soldier was killed in the insurgents’ attack, it added.