ISLAMABAD, June 19: Military officials on Saturday renewed their calls to local and foreign fighters to surrender after Nek Mohammad and seven others were killed in a security force raid in Wana on Thursday night.
Reuters quoted military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan as saying that amnesty would be offered to foreign fighters and the local tribesmen who had sheltered them, but only if they laid down their arms.
"In case of locals, amnesty will be given to those who lay down their weapons and denounce militancy," Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said. "Foreigners will have to do the same, but they will also have to get themselves registered, photographed and fingerprinted.
Failure to take up the offer, he said, would invite a further crackdown by the military.
"If there is any backlash, we are prepared to deal with it," Sultan said, adding that more than 80 militants, mostly foreigners, and 18 soldiers had been killed in fighting so far this month.
Maj-Gen Sultan said the local tribesmen would help the security forces to hunt foreigners. "A tribal lashkar of 2,000 men is being raised for this task."
In Kabul, the coalition forces' Lieut-Col Tucker Mansager said: "It's our hope that his death will help disorganise the ongoing fight by foreign fighters in the tribal areas of Pakistan and allow the Pakistani military to better destroy the terrorists that remain in that area."
DEATH TOLL: The death toll in the military attack in which Nek Mohammad was killed rose to eight, military officials said on Saturday.
In addition to Nek Mohammad and four tribesmen, three foreign suspects also died in the Thursday night attack near Wana, military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said.
"Eight people were killed in the attack, including Nek (Mohammad) and three foreigners," Maj-Gen Sultan told AFP. Intelligence officials said a satellite phone conversation involving Nek Mohammad had helped pinpoint the house where the militants were staying, which was then struck by a laser-guided missile.
The situation in South Waziristan "is fully under control of the security forces," Maj-Gen Sultan said when asked if there were any fears of a tribal backlash over the killing.
Our correspondent adds from Wana: A relative calm prevailed over the South Waziristan tribal region on Saturday as local militants debated over who would suceed Nek Mohammad.
Sources here said that the people likely to suceed Nek Mohammad, included his first cousin, Allah Noor, and another of his relative, Khan Mohammad Yargulkhel. Both men are in their early 40s and have been associated with the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
Khan Mohammad figures prominently on the government's most wanted men for harbouring and facilitating foreign militants and is reported to have ties with the banned Jaish-i-Mohammad in the past. His house in Angor Adda situated on the border with Afghanistan had once been searched by American forces. The search had yielded a big cache of weapons.
The other two tribal militants, Sharif and Noor Islam are leading their own groups and were seen visiting Shah Nawaz Kot to condole the death of the two young men who were killed along with Nek Muhammad.
Meanwhile, a ten-member team of the Spirkai tribe, led by Malik Yunas, is expected to begin a search of some houses in the Shakai area looking for foreign militants on Sunday.
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