WANA/MIRAMSHAH, Sept 13: Clashes between security forces and armed Mahsud tribesmen in the South Waziristan tribal region have claimed eight more lives, independent sources said on Monday.

Tension is high in the North Waziristan region where terrified tribesmen were leaving their homes in the Razmak sub- division for safe places elsewhere. Eyewitnesses said that a large number of families, mostly women and children, were seen heading towards Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan districts. Meanwhile, fresh enforcements have been sent from Miramshah to Razmak close to the Makin bazaar.

Reports said that three houses came under artillery shelling in the Makin area and the eight people, including a woman and three children, were killed. There are no figures about the wounded.

Sources said that fresh clashes between the security forces and militants had been reported from Kani Guram, Makin bazaar and Karwan Mainza on the fifth day. They added that volunteers of the Mahsud tribe had also taken up arms.

Reports reaching from the troubled zone suggested that both sides were targeting each other's positions with mortar shells, artillery, missiles and rockets. The exchange of heavy fire continued all Sunday night and on Monday.

The sources said that security forces were firing artillery from the Luddah base camp and Kani Guram to destroy positions of the insurgents in the Makin area. However, despite the massive shelling, the Makin bazaar remained under the control of the supporters of two influential tribesmen, Abdullah Mahsud and Baitullah Mahsud.

The authorities have disconnected telephone connections and power supply to the area and encircled the hostile zone. All roads and other access routes have been blocked. As a result, people are finding it difficult to take wounded tribesmen to hospitals in other areas.

Militants fired four missiles on Sunday night on a high school building housing security forces in Kani Guram. No casualty was reported. However, there are conflicting reports about losses suffered by the army side in the clashes.

Sources in Wana said that 25 security personnel had been brought to the military hospital in the brigade headquarters in Zari Noor colony on Sunday and Monday. No army spokesman was available for comments.

Our Peshawar bureau adds: Tribal militant Abdullah Mahsud has claimed that his supporters had captured 43 troops and a number of security personnel had been killed in the Karwan Mainza area where security forces had fought pitched battle with militants last week.

He invited media and other organisations to visit the agency and see the captured troops and bodies of those killed. Tribesmen held a protest meeting in Spinkai Raghzai on Monday.

Speaking at the meeting, local cleric Maulana Niaz Mohammad said that it was not a war against foreign militants but against tribesmen who, he alleged, had suffered immense casualties.

He called upon the Mahsud tribesmen to prepare themselves to defend innocent tribesmen. Sources said that NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah had cancelled his Wana visit on Monday due to the security situation in the region. The governor was scheduled to meet tribal elders in Wana to discuss the situation.