Mohmand (Pakistan), June 23: Tribesmen opened fire on Pakistani troops sealing the border with Afghanistan as US and Afghan troops set up parallel blocks on the other side to trap fugitive al-Qaeda fighters, Pakistani officials said today. Intelligence agencies and the chief administrator of the tribal-dominated Pakistani border district of Mohmand, Sahib Zada Anis, blamed Afghan tribesmen for the attacks. "Those who are resisting are Afghan Tribals. They are coming from the Afghan area and they are firing on US and then they run away," Anis told reporters.


He identified the attackers as the Khoda Khel tribe, whom he said came from the afghan side of the poorly marked 60-kilometer stretch of border where the operation is focussed "They are backed by some trained miscreant groups," Anis said. "The Afghan government is not involved in this resistance and we are trying to stop the resistance by a traditional Jirga. We are negotiating with the Afghan government about the firing from the Afghan side."

Some 2,000 Pakistani troops, border scouts and tribal militias known as the "Mohmand rifles" were deployed on the Pakistani side in Mohmand to block their suspected customary escape routes, Anis said.
Bureau Report