TANK, Pakistan, March 30 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked militants launched hit-and-run attacks on Pakistani tribesmen on the Afghan border on Friday after the tribesmen killed seven Uzbek militants in a raid, security official said. Fighting broke out between the foreign militants, most of them believed to be Uzbeks, and Pashtun tribal fighters early this month in South Waziristan after the militants tried to kill a pro-government tribal leader. The latest round of clashes erupted on Wednesday after attempts to broker a truce broke down. The two sides exchanged sporadic rocket and mortar fire on Thursday as the tribesmen appeared to close in on the foreign militants, residents said. "The Uzbeks are now fighting in small groups with light arms, using guerrilla-style tactics," said resident Shabir Ghulam. An intelligence official who declined to be identified said seven Uzbeks were killed on Thursday in Ghawkhaw village, southwest of Wana, the region's main town, in a pre-dawn attack on a school the militants were using as a base. The fighting marks the break-down in relations between the foreign militants and the tribesmen who had sheltered them. Thousands of foreign militants fled to the semi-autonomous tribal lands on the Pakistani side of the border after U.S.-led forces defeated the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, and were given refuge by the tribes. Government officials said up to 160 people, most of them Uzbek militants, had been killed in clashes since last week. But residents, in contact with one or other side, said the casualty toll was much lower. After unsuccessful military operation to clear out the foreign militants, the government struck pacts with Pakistani tribesmen in different areas on the border in the hope of driving a wedge between them and the foreign militants. Critics say the pacts have given militant tribesmen who support the Taliban free rein and led to creeping Talibanisation, or the expansion of Islamist influence. The military says this month's fighting in South Waziristan shows the government's policy is working. But fueling fears of Talibanisation, militants this week clashed with security forces in the town of Tank, to the east of Waziristan in North West Frontier Province. At least five people were killed in the fighting which erupted after the militants barged into a boys school on Monday and tried to recruit children for jihad, or holy war. A curfew imposed on the town on Wednesday, was still in force on Friday, residents said.
