Doubts over Pakistan peace deal

Pakistan says it has destroyed militant bases in South Waziristan

A peace deal between pro-Taleban militants and Pakistan's government is in the balance after an air strike on an alleged militant camp on Tuesday.

Government forces carried out the attack in the South Waziristan tribal area. More than 20 people were killed in the raid, officials say.

Tribal leaders have called for revenge and want the deal reconsidered.

Waziristan had seen a decline in conflict between pro-Taleban and government forces after the peace deal.

Tensions

Baitullah Mehsud, a leader of pro-Taleban militants from the Mehsud tribe in the region, told the BBC's Haroon Rashid that "revenge will be taken in the next 10 to 15 days.

"The revenge will be such that they will feel its pain in their hearts," the militant leader said.

Mr Mehsud had signed a peace deal with the government in February 2005.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says this kind of strike has become rare within the last year.

Previously the army had tried to clear al-Qaeda fugitives and other foreign fighters out of the lawless border area, but it encountered such stiff resistance from local tribesmen that it signed peace deals with them.

The Pakistani air strikes came hours after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Kabul for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Until early this month Pakistan was accused of not doing enough against the militants by Western forces and senior European and American officials.

Pakistan rejected the accusations.

But it appears to have hardened its stance - indicated by Tuesday's attack.

That followed last week's operation over the border in Paktika province in Afghanistan where intellgence sharing with Nato led to an air strike in which the alliance said 150 Taleban fighters were killed.

Observers say this leaves the Pakistan military open to assaults from irate tribesmen who had been restrainted under the peace agreement.

No deal?

When Baitullah Mehsud was asked about its future, he said that depended on the Pakistani military.

He said they did not want to fight Pakistan or its army but their target was American forces in Afghanistan.

The militant leader also admitted 26 of his men had been killed in Paktika in the joint operation by Pakistani and coalition forces this month.

Taliban dead in waziristan

But he claimed that only children and labourers were killed in Tuesday's strike.

Mr Mehsud invited the media to visit the site of the operation and decide for itself as to the identity of the alleged militants.

Observers say his comments indicate the fine line that separates tolerance from open warfare between the militants and the Pakistan government.

Analysts beleive that the Pakistan army could be the target of attacks in the coming weeks.

Last December, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a military training centre near the tribal areas after Pakistan carried out a military strike against suspected militants in Bajuar.