Tribesmen on Tuesday threatened a tribal rebellion against troops engaged in the country's biggest and bloodiest assault on al Qaeda suspects and their tribal allies.
"There is a possibility of rebellion by tribal people if the government continues with such actions in the tribal areas," protestor Bazar Gul, president of the Khyber Union tribal organisation, told a rally in Bara, near Peshawar.
In Tuesday's protest some 1,000 tribesmen blocked the main Bara road for over one hour and torched an effigy of US President George W. Bush, chanting "Stop the military operation in Wana" and "Down with America".
"The Wana operation is being carried out on American orders and we demand that all American agents should leave Pakistan," the local head of Jamaat-e-Islami Abdul Wadood Afridi said during the rally.