Authorities on Monday imposed a heavy fine on a key tribe in its remote Afghan border region for attacking troops hunting al Qaeda supremo Osama bin Laden and his followers, a local official said.
The Ahmedzai tribe in South Waziristan district has been ordered to pay 5.4 million rupees (95,000 dollars) for at least three attacks on troops and military bases since a crackdown began in January on residents harbouring al Qaeda fighters and their Taleban supporters, Rehmatullah Wazir said.
The decision was conveyed to the tribal elders at a meeting in South Waziristan's main town of Wana on Monday.
Wazir said members of the Ahmedzai tribe were blamed for a rocket attack on a check-post manned by the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) before dawn on Sunday.
Assailants fired four rockets on the check-post about 1.5 kilometre's (one mile) from the site where at least 11 people - said by locals to be innocent civilians - were killed in a clash between troops and gunmen on Saturday.
Three rockets exploded without damage near the check-post while another failed to go off, Wazir told reporters on Monday.
Another check-post in the area came under attack on Friday and Saturday but no casualties or damage to the property were reported, he said.
He said the tribe was also responsible for an attack on a military vehicle on January 8 in which two soldiers were killed.
Authorities renewed their warning to tribesmen to expel terrorists and hand over suspects, or face search operations by military forces that often end with tribal homes being demolished in punishment for harbouring militants.
Harbours also face the prospect of seven years jail and a fine of 1.5 million rupees.
Elders announced they would hold an extraordinary meeting of tribal heads on Wednesday.
Ultra-conservative Pashtun tribes living in the border belt, sympathetic to the Taleban and al Qaeda fugitives, are believed to have provided them shelter since US-led forces invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to topple the Taleban regime.
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