Tribesmen Turn on Al-Qaeda

Fifty people, including a group of children stranded aboard a school bus, have been killed in fighting between al-Qaeda terrorists and local tribesmen in one of Pakistan’s lawless regions on the border with Afghanistan. Taliban leaders, who have ties to both groups, are trying to broker a truce, according to this report by the BBC.

Hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden took refuge in the rugged South Waziristan region after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan following 9/11. The local Pashtun community, encouraged by the Pakistan government, has been trying to force them to leave.  “The tribesmen are fed up with them,” Pakistan’s Major-General Waheed Arshad said of the al-Qaeda militants. (More Afghanistan stories.)