Pakistan sacks 350 tribal police after militant threats

Pakistan — Authorities in northwest Pakistan Saturday sacked more than 350 tribal police when they failed to report for duty after a militant leader threatened reprisals against those who did not resign, an official said.Around 500 tribal policemen in the lawless border district of Khyber were Friday given 24 hours notice to report but only 142 turned up on Saturday, the senior official said.Militant commander Mangal Bagh, who has ties to the Taliban, in an FM radio broadcast threatened that lawmakers, army and paramilitary troops in the region who did not resign would see their homes demolished and other harsh penalties.Hours after his speech on Thursday, militants blew up three houses belongingto khasadars, or tribal police, residents said.There are about 2,500 people in the tribal police in Khyber district but 500 did not report for duty Friday after the militant's threat and only 142 turned up on Saturday."I have terminated the services of 358 tribal policemen, we will make new appointments soon," Khyber region's administration chief Tariq Hayat told AFP by telephone.Pakistan launched a military offensive last week in the area -- home to the fabled Khyber Pass into neighbouring Afghanistan and where a suicide bomber killed 22 tribal policemen late last month.The offensive is targeting fighters from Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam), a militant group battling the government in Khyber, part of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt."These khasadars were getting salaries from Pakistan but were obeying someone else," Hayat added.Khasadars are locally recruited tribesmen who know their area well and are considered helpful in tracking down militant centres and hideouts.Militants from Pakistan's feared Tehreek-i-Taliban adopted similar tactics in the northwest Swat valley, where hundreds of police deserted during a violent uprising that demanded the imposition of Islamic law.Meanwhile, the frontier corps said Saturday that troops killed 22 militants and destroyed three hideouts in an operation in Khyber's remote Tirrah valley.The military claims to have killed around 170 militants in Khyber but such tolls are impossible to confirm independently.Khyber is on the main land and supply route through Pakistan into Afghanistan, where international forces are battling a Taliban insurgency.Separately, security forces killed eight militants in northwest Swat and Bajaur in an ongoing search and clearance operation in which one soldier also died, the military said in a statement Saturday.Pakistan unleashed its offensive in Swat and neighbouring districts in April which forced 1.9 million civilians from their homes.The United Nations said this week that 1.65 million have since returned home.