58 militants and tribespeople die in fighting in northern Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Fierce fighting between foreign militants and local tribesmen in northern Pakistan in the past few days has left at least 58 people dead, government and security officials said Tuesday.

Among the dead were 42 militants from Uzbekistan; an additional 27 were captured by a local tribal commander, officials said. Sixteen tribespeople were also reported killed, including four students on a bus caught in cross-fire.

The fighting, in the restive South Waziristan region, could signal a breakdown in relations between local tribal leaders and the Central Asian and Arab militants who had sought shelter in the tribal region near the Afghanistan border after United States forces routed the Taliban from Afghanistan in 2001.

The foreign militants, some of them linked to Al Qaeda, had enjoyed the support of the ethnic Pashtun tribes in remote villages where the authority of the Pakistani government had become almost nonexistent. Those relations have slowly frayed.

The latest fighting began this month between loyalists of a pro-government tribal elder and Uzbek militants who had repeatedly tried to assassinate him. More than 150 tribal elders have been killed in the last three years.

Intelligence officials say the Uzbek militant group, known as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, led by Tahir Yaldashev, has a force of 800 to 1,000 fighters. Uzbeks and other Central Asians are thought to be the backbone of Al Qaeda in the region.