WANA/PESHAWAR, Nov 27: Hundreds of troops returned to the Brigade Headquarters in Zari Noor Colony on Saturday after the government announced withdrawal of security forces from Wana, the regional headquarters of South Waziristan.

The town is dominated by the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe.

But an ISPR handout clarified that there was no pullout of troops from the South Waziristan region, and that operation would continue in the Mehsud tribe's area where some of the wanted men were still at large and had not yet surrendered.

The military sources said that the pullout operation in Wana started at about 9am and army and paramilitary troops vacated all interim checkposts in the troubled area.

The withdrawal operation was completed before noon and army jeeps and trucks, pulling long- and short-range artillery pieces, were seen heading back towards the Brigade Headquarters near Wana.

Commander of the 11th Corps Lt-Gen Safdar Hussain announced at a tribal jirga in Peshawar on Friday that peace had been restored in the Wazir-dominated area and troops would leave all interim checkposts in the area forthwith.

After massive deployment in the troubled region, the military authorities declared Zari Noor Civil Officers Colony as their brigade headquarters in 2002.

Reports said that a small number of regular troops were still operating in Angor Adda, a small town close to the Afghan border, while paramilitary and Khassadar forces were jointly manning some old checkpoints.

These checkpoints were established during the nine-month-long bloody operation which had left over 500 people dead, including 202 soldiers and 150 suspected militants. The military sources have confirmed that over 400 soldiers and officers had been wounded in the attacks and roadside bomb explosions.

Military authorities estimated that 60 to 80 foreign militants, mostly belonging to the Central Asian states, were still present in those areas of South Waziristan which were inhabited by the Mehsud tribe.

About 80 houses of innocent tribesmen had been demolished as a result of air strikes and ground forces attacks to flush out foreign and local militants, while a large number of families witnessed displacement.

People of the area from where troops were pulled out have started moving freely in different areas as during the presence of troops their movement had been restricted to their respective areas. The sources said that tribesmen had welcomed the troops withdrawal from their area.

ISPR: A spokesman for the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) clarified that there was no pullout of troops from the South Waziristan region or any other part of the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) bordering Afghanistan.

In a statement, the spokesman said that action would be taken as and when required if there was credible information about the presence of foreign miscreants in the area or their involvement in terrorist activities.

About pullout of troops from Wana, the statement said that since the Ahmadzai Wazir's area in South Waziristan had been secured and wanted men had surrendered to the government, checkposts in Azam Warsak and Shin Warsak would be manned by local tribesmen. The security forces and the local administration would focus on development activities in the remote area.

The spokesman said that operation would continue in the Mehsud tribe's area where some of the wanted man were still at large and had not yet surrendered.