From Pakistan come reports of tribal leaders beating their war drums for the first time in years. Thousands of tribesmen have reportedly gathered in South Waziristan, near the border with Afghanistan. They're trying to raise a small army to kick out foreign al-Qaida-linked militants who have been living in their midst.
The Pakistani government says the news is a sign that the controversial "peace deals" that Pakistan signed with tribal leaders are finally working. South Waziristan may be the wildest of Pakistan's rugged border agencies.
Reports of clashes there between local tribes and foreign fighters began emerging a couple of weeks ago. Early reports indicated a few dozen dead, then a hundred.
The death toll now stands, according to Pakistan's government, at more than 200, mostly militants from Uzbekistan.
Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., says this represents a big success. "If Pakistan military had conducted an operation of a month-long duration," he says, "I don't think we could have ferreted out so many foreign terrorists, extremists or whatever you want to call them."
It's not clear what exactly has prompted the attacks by tribesmen. There are suggestions the government, under intense pressure from the United States to crack down on terrorists, has been paying off tribal elders to enlist their cooperation.
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