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WANA, July 13: Differences surfaced among tribal elders over the demolition of houses of relatives of two wanted militants as clashes continued between security forces and militants in the South Waziristan region on Tuesday.
Despite disagreement, a 40-member committee comprising tribal Maliks, announced here that about 4,000 volunteers would demolish the houses of the relatives of the two militants in Doag Kali and Wacha Dana.
The committee members and a group of tribal elders who met in Wana on Tuesday, were divided over the demolition of houses of the relatives of Maulvi Abbas and Mohammad Javed.
The two wanted militants have refused to surrender but say they will not support or shelter local and foreign fighters. The sources said that a group of tribal elders, however, opposed the demolition of the houses of the militants' relatives, saying that such tactics could not force them to give themselves up to the authorities.
Reports reaching from the war zone said that intensity of the firing between security forces and militants had minimised on the fourth day and both sides were exchanging fire intermittently.
The four-day-long clashes have claimed the life of a minor girl and eight others have been wounded, while a large number of families have become displaced in the troubled region.
ROCKET ATTACK: Militants fired around a dozen rockets on the Scouts Camp in the Razmak sub-division of the North Waziristan on Monday night, Pazir Gul adds from Miramshah, the agency headquarters.
The militants targeted the Shawal Scouts camp at around 9.30pm, some 70 kilometres south of the regional headquarters, but no casualty was reported. Sources said that three rockets landed inside the Razmak Fort while one hit the playground of the Cadet Colleg, Razmak, which created panic among the students.
They said that the rockets fired from the nearby hilltops missed the target. The rocket attack was followed by an intense exchange of fire between the security forces and assailants for half-an-hour.
TWO CHILDREN KILLED: Two children were killed on Tuesday in a mortar attack by suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants on a military checkpoint in a remote tribal village near Afghan border, officials said, AFP adds.
"Two boys were martyred after mortars fired by miscreants hit them in Khamrang village," military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan told AFP. The militants missed the target and mortar shells landed away from the military post in Khamrang village near tribal South Waziristan's main town Wana.
