WANA, Nov 7: Political authorities in South Waziristan have resumed talks with elders of the Yargulkhel tribe to persuade them to sign an agreement for guaranteeing safety to security forces in the troubled areas, sources said.

They said local officials wanted the tribe to provide protection to the army and paramilitary forces in the area and deny sanctuary to foreign militants and their tribal supporters.

Under the proposed agreement, the tribe will have to furnish cash guarantees and will pledge not to allow foreign elements to use Pakistani territory against any foreign country. In the even of any hostile action against security forces in the Yargulkhel area the guarantee money would be forfeited.

Earlier, the political authorities had signed agreements with eight sub-tribes of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe. However, the Yargulkhel tribe, a sub-section of the Ahmadzai Wazir, which was declared a hostile tribe, had refused to enter into any agreement with the government.

Despite having signed agreements with the local tribes, security forces regularly come under attack in different areas.

Five most-wanted militants - Maulana Abdul Aziz, Mohammad Sharif, Noor Islam, Maulvi Abbas and Mohammad Javed - who are at large, belong to the Yargulkhel tribe. Militant commander, Nek Mohammad, who died in an attack some time ago, also belonged to the Yargulkhel clan.

The sources said that Assistant Political Agent of Wana, Khan Bakhsh, had been negotiating with the elders of the tribe for the past two days. However, no headway has so far been made in the talks.

Militants, meanwhile, vowed to continue their attacks on troops in South Waziristan and to avenge the killing of innocent people.

Leaflets written in Urdu were distributed in the Wana bazaar on Sunday attacking US President George Bush and President Pervez Musharraf.

"We will avenge the killing and wounding of innocent people and mujahideen in South Waziristan", the leaflets said and asked tribesmen to cooperate with the mujahideen.