Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=06/11/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PAK / AFGHAN BORDER FIGHTING (L)

NUMBER=2-316643

BYLINE=AYAZ GUL

DATELINE=ISLAMABAD

HEADLINE: Fighting Kills 50 In Pakistan's Tribal Region

INTRO: Military officials in Pakistan say thousands of troops are engaged in heavy fighting with suspected foreign militants for a third day in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Ayaz Gul reports from Islamabad.

TEXT: A Pakistan military statement issued Friday says 35 suspected foreign militants and 15 government soldiers have been killed since the fighting began Wednesday.

The clashes are taking place near the town of Wana in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal region, known as South Waziristan. Authorities believe scores of foreign militants and al-Qaida terrorists have established hideouts there near the border with Afghanistan.

Since March, the government had been trying to persuade rebel tribesmen to surrender foreign al-Qaida suspects - but failed. Jamshed Ayaz Khan is the head of the government-funded Institute of Regional Studies in Islamabad. He says that is why the government was forced to launch this military offensive.

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"Pakistan government tried everything possible to solve the Wana problem politically and it has taken a long time and some people have started even questioning that why you are being so soft."

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Thursday's assassination attempt on a top Army general in Karachi is being investigated as possible revenge by supporters of those militants being hunted in the tribal region. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/AG/JJ/KBK