Two Uzbek militants were killed Sunday when a group of them attacked the house of a pro-government tribal elder in troubled tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said.
The pre-dawn clash erupted when dozens of militants launched an attack on the house of Khan Khannan in South Waziristan district, local administration official Ayaz Mandokhel told AFP.
Khannan's men guarding the house retaliated and killed two Uzbek militants, he said, adding that "their bodies were still lying in the area." Other militants fled after the clash, he said. Khannan is a pro-government elder in Shakai where gunmen shot dead six members of a tribal peace committee about one week ago.
The tribesmen blame those killings on Baitullah Mehsud, a leading warlord who has also been accused by the government of masterminding last month's assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. The military in a statement said security forces apprehended 41 suspected militants including local commander Mohammad Raheem, a close relative of Fazlullah, during a search operation.