The Waziristan area is a militant stronghold
More than 50 people have been killed in fighting between al-Qaeda militants and local pro-Taleban tribesmen in north-west Pakistan, officials say.
Heavy shelling has raged since Monday near Wana in the South Waziristan tribal area close to Afghanistan.
Most of those killed were foreign militants, officials said. At least two children also died in the crossfire.
The tribal areas are home to hundreds of foreign militants who fled the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The tribesmen are fed up with them [foreign militants]
Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad,
Military spokesman
Fractious militants
They are supported by local tribesmen, who also have close ties to the Afghan Taleban.
The militants all want Western troops out of Afghanistan, but there are divisions and power struggles among them.
Reports say two senior Taleban commanders, Baitullah Mahsud and Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani, have gone to the area to try to broker a ceasefire.
Children 'dead'
Tensions between the mostly Uzbek fighters and local militants rose after an Arab militant was killed on Sunday.
Taleban spread their wings
High stakes on border
The area has been fraught since similar clashes in which 19 people were killed earlier this month.
Reports from South Waziristan's main town of Miranshah say the dead in the latest fighting included 38 foreigners, mostly Uzbeks, and 13 local militants. Dozens more were wounded.
Pakistan military spokesman Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad confirmed the toll to be over 40.
Teachers said that children were among those killed when a mortar bomb hit their bus.
Local officials said the foreign al-Qaeda militants managed to take away their 38 bodies during a brief truce brokered by local tribesmen.
Fighting was continuing around the villages of Azam Warsak and Kalusha west of the town of Wana on Tuesday night.
Poor telecommunications in the area has meant that details of the latest clashes are sketchy. But they are reported to stem from differences between local tribesmen and foreign militants over the law and order situation in South Waziristan.
Spring offensive
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says the clashes have turned a large area west of Wana into a battlefield, with both sides dug in in several villages.
Thousands of Pakistani troops are in the area
Each side has blamed the other for the outbreak of fighting.
Nato and the Afghan government have criticised Pakistan for recently signing peace deals with militants in South and North Waziristan.
They argue that the agreements have created a safe haven for the Taleban in advance of an expected spring offensive by the militants in Afghanistan.
But the government said the agreements were necessary to reduce the number of Pakistani soldiers who were being killed in the border areas.
More than 700 Pakistani troops have lost their lives in the fight for control over the tribal areas in recent years. _________________ kyranŠ
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