Pakistan army lashes out in Waziristan, toll rises

By Haji Mujtaba

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani artillery bombarded Taliban and al Qaeda positions on Wednesday as villagers buried relatives killed by an air strike during heavy fighting in a tribal area near the Afghan border.

There were no official estimates of the casualties from Tuesday's air strike, though residents and intelligence officials in the area reckoned up to 50 people had been killed, some of them shopping at a village bazaar.

If true, it would take the tally to about 250 since the fighting escalated on Saturday night after an attack on an army convoy near Mir Ali, a town where al Qaeda tracks have been often found before.

The only people left in Hormuz, one of a cluster of villages near Mir Ali, were holding funerals. Other families fled the conflict zone in the North Waziristan tribal region.

"One of my aunts and her son were killed," said Akhtar Azam, whose house in Hormuz village was hit.

The thump of artillery shells could be heard in the main town of Miranshah, coming from the vicinity of Mir Ali, 25 km (nearly 16 miles) away. Scores of rounds were fired in the pre-dawn barrage, residents said.

Militants also fired a couple of rockets onto the military runway near Miranshah's fort, but there were no casualties reported.

The last bout of intense fighting in North Waziristan coincided with a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush to Islamabad in March 2006.