At least 10 people, including five local Taliban, have been killed and dozens injured after hundreds of Taliban fighters loyal to Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Sirajuddin Haqqani clashed with local anti-Taliban tribesmen in the Shawa area of North Waziristan.
The fierce clash, which involved artillery and heavy weapons and lasted more than a day, subsided around April 20 after Pakistan deployed helicopter gunships to "disperse" the hundreds of militants, who were about to overrun the besieged villages. Tensions continue, however, as hundreds of heavily armed fighters from both sides remain dug in among the rugged hills of Shawa. The roadway linking Shawa and Thal is still cut off due to militant roadblocks, leaving dozens of wounded civilians desperately stranded.
The clash began late on April 18 after Taliban fighters laid siege against local Wazir Qabul-Miamai Khel* tribesmen loyal to Haji Shah Mahmud and Malek Karim Khan. A spate of abductions and retaliatory murders between the two sides earlier this month had prompted the explosion of violence, pitting Hafiz Gul Bahadur's more dominant Utmanzai Wazir (Madda Khel) Taliban militia against a cadre of former Tehrik-e-Taliban members led by prominent Qabul-Miamai Khel tribal leader Haji Shah Mahmud and his extended family: Malek Karim Khan, Sayed Sattar, Rasheed Khan, and Jehanzab Khan.
Approximately two weeks ago, gunmen loyal to Sayed Sattar assassinated a local Taliban commander named Haji Qadir Khan, a reported associate of Sirajuddin Haqqani, in the nearby Thal Adda Masjid Bazaar area of Hangu district. The killing was widely viewed as retribution for the abduction and murder of two Qabul-Miamai Khel tribesmen last year; one of those abducted was the son of Malek Karim Khan.
In retaliation for the killing of Haji Qadir Khan, as many as 1,200 heavily armed militants launched a predawn assault against Almar village, targeting the home of Sayed Sattar, and the Malik Shadam Khan village, where Malek Karim Khan and his fighters were holed up with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades, and heavy artillery. Three local tribesmen and a woman were killed in the initial clashes, including a local tribal elder named Gulbuddin who was trying to negotiate a ceasefire between the two sides. The fighting also injured dozens of villagers, among them women and children, The News reports.
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