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Near Afghan-Pakistan border, fighting kills 213 in one week

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Fighting between local and foreign militants yesterday killed 52 people, bringing to more than 200 the number of dead in recent days in a conflict between Pakistanis and suspected al-Qaeda-linked extremists, a senior official said.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Fighting between local and foreign militants yesterday killed 52 people, bringing to more than 200 the number of dead in recent days in a conflict between Pakistanis and suspected al-Qaeda-linked extremists, a senior official said.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said 45 Uzbek militants and seven tribesmen died in battles in South Waziristan, a lawless region used as a rear base by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and where the United States fears al-Qaeda is regrouping.

Since fighting began last week, 213 people have been killed, including 177 Uzbeks and their local alllies, Sherpao told the Associated Press.

The minister said the conflict intensified yesterday after foreigners failed to follow an ultimatum from tribal elders to leave their territory. Security officials said tribal militias had fired rockets at several hideouts of the foreigners.

An aide to Maulvi Nazir, leader of the purportedly pro-government side in the conflict, said earlier yesterday that they had killed 35 Uzbeks and lost 10 of their own men. He said both sides used heavy weapons. The aide, speaking by phone, asked for anonymity to keep enemies from identifying him.

South Waziristan is off-limits to journalists, making it hard to verify facts about the fighting.

Under pressure from the United States to do more against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, the government has said that the violence in South Waziristan vindicates its policy of using traditional leaders, and not the army, to combat militancy along the border.

Government officials contend Nazir, a tribal chief previously aligned with the Taliban, has come over to their side.

Some analysts, however, say militants with links to Taliban and al-Qaeda are involved on both sides. The conflict also pits local tribes against one another, and blood feuds could deepen insecurity in a region where for Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri may be hiding.