Seventeen people have been killed in the first reported clash in a region of Pakistan close to the Afghan border.
Twelve of the dead from the fighting in Azam Warsak, a village in south Waziristan, are said to be Uzbek mojaheds linked with al-Qaeda.
Intelligence sources said three Pakistani tribesmen and two Afghan refugees were also among the dead.
Al Jazeera's tribal affairs specialist Kamal Hyder in Peshawar, bordering the tribal area in north-west Pakistan, said trouble has been brewing in the region since local leaders signed a peace deal with the Pakistani government.
KC
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