KOHAT, Feb 26: After tightening security along the Afghan border, the authorities are seeking cooperation of elders to control inter-tribal movement of foreigners and militants as the operation against remnants of Al Qaeda enters its final phase.

The number of troops deployed in tribal areas is increasing and it may reach a record of 80,000 to 90,000 in addition to an unspecified presence of special forces.

North Waziristan Agency Deputy Administrator Zaheerul Islam told Dawn from Miranshah on Wednesday that security along the border with the South Waziristan Agency had been beefed up to check the movement of suspects.

Replying to a question, he said the Shawal area in the North Waziristan Agency had been sealed from three sides. He said army, scouts and khasadars had been deployed in the difficult terrain bordering Afghanistan and the North and South Waziristan agencies.

"The elders of the area are regularly taken into confidence and told to take extreme care and even check the identity of the guests who are referred to them from South Waziristan," Mr Islam said.

After the arrest of militants in the Khyber Agency, the authorities in the Orakzai Agency planned to seal the border it, sources said. An official said forces had not so far been sent to the snow clad mountains between the Khyber and Orakzai agencies and the army would wait for at least 15 days. He said the area could only be reached by a helicopter.

Meanwhile, three bomb blasts targeting the officials of the Orakzai Agency in a week is being seen as a serious development by the government and the local people.

Sources said the government had received reports that some foreign elements were trying to disrupt peace during Muharram in the region. The authorities claimed on Wednesday to have arrested the masterminds behind the attacks.

Local elders said the people of the area could not make time bombs. They said that those targeted in the attacks were local people. No government official or people from outside the agency were hurt in the incidents, a schoolteacher in Dabori said.

Recently, a delegation from Khost and Paktika called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and told him that they would not tolerate the arrests and search operations conducted by " white men" a tribesman said quoting Afghan National Unity Party President Sardar Asadullah Sherdil as saying. A number of tribal elders in Pakistan also oppose any role of the United States forces in their area.