WANA, Pakistan, March 20 (Reuters) - Up to five people, including foreign al Qaeda-linked militants, have been killed in two days of fighting with Pakistani tribesmen near the Afghan border, a military spokesman said on Tuesday. A battle between foreign militants, most of them Uzbeks, and the region's ethnic Pashtun tribesmen erupted on March 6 and followed government efforts to convince the tribesmen to help keep order and stop militant raids into Afghanistan. The latest fighting broke out on Monday in Shin Warsak village, 7 km (4 miles) west of Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan region. "Fighting is still on and there are reports of four to five casualties on both sides," said military spokesman, Major-General Waheed Arshad. About a dozen people had been wounded, a security official in the area said. Hundreds of foreign militants, including Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, 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. Most of the Pashtun tribesmen, who inhabit both sides of the Pakistani-Afghan border, gave the militants refuge despite government efforts to clear the foreigners out. The fighting this month indicates that in at least one area, relations have broken down. "It's a success of the government strategy ... the tribesmen are fed up with them because they and their activities adversely affect their lives and business," Arshad said. Seventeen people, most of them Uzbeks, were killed in the March 6 battle that broke out after the militants tried to kill a pro-government tribal leader.
