PESHAWAR, March 24: The government decided on Wednesday to go tough on the Yargulkhel tribe in the South Waziristan tribal region and demolish their houses for failing to flush out foreign militants and surrender their local supporters, sources told Dawn.

The number of houses to be demolished ran into hundreds, knowledgeable sources said. The decision to punish the Yargulkhels was taken at a high-level meeting attended by NWFP Governor Lt-Gen Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, and the new tough-talking Corps Commander of Peshawar, Lt-Gen Safdar Hussain.

The meeting reviewed the ongoing operation against foreign militants and local harbourers and decided to take punitive action against elements who had acted in a hostile manner or had fired at army or paramilitary forces.

"There is going to be no let-up," the sources said. "Those who have acted in a hostile manner or fired at our troops are known and identified. Their houses will be levelled to the ground," the sources said.

Already, authorities were looking to get more bulldozers from Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Peshawar to begin demolition of hundreds of mud-houses which, the sources said, could take a lot of time.

"We are having difficulty in finding bulldozers. The ones operating in Wana are not enough while others on their way got stuck in Monday's ambush on an army convoy in Serwakai," the sources said.

Authorities in the regional headquarters in Wana said they had already served notices on the Yargulkhel tribe under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

The decision to take punitive action against the tribe came as the main Zalikhel tribe, of which Yargulkhel is a sub-tribe, took oath on Quran to work 'seriously and sincerely' in finding missing soldiers of the paramilitary Frontier Corps and Pakistan Army and two junior administration officials.

Zalikhel elders, who were faulted by an all-tribe jirga from the seven tribal regions and semi-autonomous Frontier Regions presently in Wana, for their inaction against foreign militants and their local supporters, admitted their failure and pledged to do all they could to find and recover those missing, government officials and tribal elders said.

The government has acknowledged it is looking for 12 paramilitary soldiers and two tehsildars of the political administration, who went missing following a bloody showdown with foreign militants in Kaloosha that left 15 paramilitary soldiers dead.

The sources told Dawn the authorities had also asked tribesmen to look for at least eight army soldiers kidnapped by suspected militants following an ambush on a supply convoy near Serwakai on Monday.

With this the total number of missing soldiers from the Frontier Corps and Pakistan Army comes to 20 besides two tehsildars. But, the sources said, the Zalikhel-Yargulkhel's search for the missing soldiers and government officials would have no bearing on the decision to demolish houses of hostile elements.

"Irrespective of whether they help us find those missing or not, those who have acted irresponsibly will face action," the sources said. The administrator in South Waziristan, Mohammad Azam Khan, said he would wait and see whether the Zalikhel tribe, which had hitherto been dragging its feet, was now prepared to act decisively.

"This is the benchmark. We will see how far are they effective and sincere in finding our paramilitary soldiers and tehsildars," he said by phone from Wana. He said the tribe had also been told to capture and surrender foreign militants and their clansmen supporting them or tell the authorities where they were "and we will take action accordingly".

Secretary (security), Fata, Brig Mahmood Shah told a news briefing earlier in the day that the Zalikhel tribe had time until 10am Thursday to deliver. "If they don't, then the All-Qabail jirga would decide who is at fault and recommend action."

But, Mr Azam Khan said, he had the option of raiding suspected places to recover the missing soldiers if the tribe failed. "We have certain targets and we will go after them as and when we decide," he said.

Brigadier Shah said that thousands of Mehsud tribesmen had launched their own search for those responsible for the Monday ambush on an army convoy in Serwakai. He said that a lashkar of tribal volunteers looked into 18 to 20 caves about 3km from the site of the ambush in search of militants.

He said that the lashkar had helped evacuate trucks and other military vehicles from the scene of the ambush to the scouts' fort in Serwakai. "They are cooperating," he said.

The secretary said that the authorities in South Waziristan had also rushed food supplies to upper Azam Warsak to cope with shortages there. He said that the situation in the targeted area was generally calm and resistance by militants was weakening. "The security cordon is closing in as the resistance dies down," he added.

Troops operating in the area continued their search of houses in the area and recovered some video-tapes, documents containing phone numbers etc and ammunition, he said.

ISPR denial: Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Inter-Services Public Relations denied reports that three policemen and a civilian busy in defusing a bomb in Bannu were killed due to mistaken fire by army soldiers.

Giving details of the incident, the spokesman said in a press release that the four men had died in Bannu in an explosion that had taken place accidentally when an army vehicle was passing through the area.

Later, those injured and dead were taken to the CMH, Bannu, where autopsy reports confirmed that there were no bullet wounds on their bodies and deaths were caused by splinters from the explosion. "Actually, there was no firing at the site of the incident," the spokesman said.