" The purpose of the gathering is to garner more support," Shah

ISLAMABAD, April 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Pakistani authorities have stepped up efforts to muster greater support from tribal leaders to capture hundreds of "foreign militants" in the region bordering Afghanistan, a top security official said Sunday, April 4, as 5 policemen were killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a police station in Karachi.

More than 100 tribal leaders will hold a grand jirga (council) in Peshawar with the North West Frontier Province governor, Syed Iftikhar Ali, Monday, April 5, regional security chief Brigadier Mahmood Shah told Agence France-Presse (AFP), speaking by telephone.

"The purpose of the gathering is to garner more support from tribal leaders in South and North Waziristan for clearing the region of foreign elements and ending their local support base," Shah said.

This comes after a Pakistan army helicopter dropped leaflets in a remote tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, urging tribesmen to help capture suspected Al-Qaeda fugitives, residents and officials said Saturday, April 3, according to the Associated Press (AP).

The leaflets, in both Urdu and Pashto languages, were dropped Friday, April 2, South Waziristan, the scene of a major military operation last month against Al-Qaeda holdouts and tribal sympathizers that left more than 120 people dead.

"Tribesmen are great friends of the Pakistan army," read the leaflet. "These foreigners are misusing your hospitality. They are not your friends... they are terrorists. You should help your army to flush them out."

The fact the leaflets were dropped by air demonstrated the security forces' reluctance to travel in the area, AP said.

Authorities believe that many of the hundreds of militants escaped from South Waziristan and may have found new shelters in the neighboring North Waziristan.

"We estimate that up to 600 foreign elements are still hiding in these areas and they have active support from up to 5,000 tribesmen," Shah said.

Shah said troops were relocated after the two-week operation and were now deployed in North Waziristan's Shawal district, several kilometers from the Afghan border.

Last month an army post at Shawal was attacked with rockets and grenades, killing an army major and a soldier.

Shah claimed that most of the tribes inhabiting the semi-autonomous tribal region supported the government's campaign to deny sanctuary to foreign fugitives in the territory.

"We are striving to broaden the support by involving local religious leaders with efforts to mobilize tribesmen against foreign intruders."

Pakistani policeman inspects the scene of the shooting in Karachi

The heavy casualties sustained in the recent operation have apparently forced the administration to rely more on political means rather than force to achieve its anti-terrorism objectives.

"We are trying a carrot and stick policy because neither simple talking nor use of force alone can deliver," Shah said. The campaign would take time to get the desired objectives, he added.

He said a major tribe, Mehsud, had created its own armed force to apprehend those among the tribe who were suspected of sheltering foreign elements.

Pakistani tribesmen Tuesday, March 23, threatened a rebellion against army troops engaged in the country's biggest and bloodiest assault on Al-Qaeda suspects and their tribal allies.

Karachi Attack

Meanwhile in Karachi, five policemen were among six people killed Sunday when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a police station in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, officers said.

The officers said up to a dozen gunmen riding in two or three cars went to the police station in an eastern district of Karachi and sprayed bullets on the premises, AFP said.

"They first abused the policemen and threatened that none of them will be spared and then opened fire from three sides. Bullets also hit an adjacent mosque, where people were offering morning prayers," said Sindh provincial police chief Kamal Shah.

One of the worshippers in the mosque who was a policeman opened fire on the attackers, killing one gunman, Shah told AFP, adding that the body of the slain militant was taken away by the attackers.

Pakistani national Sherzaman shows a leaflet in Islamabad

Shah said the police have found some leads indicating involvement of a militant group, but he declined to name which one.

The police station is housed in a makeshift three-room structure without a boundary wall, making it a soft target, said a police investigator.

The attack came a day after police arrested Afaq Ahmed, an opposition party leader.

Ahmed, who heads a breakaway faction of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement - which represents Muslims who migrated from India after the 1947 partition of the subcontinent - was arrested after he returned home from a meeting of party officials.

He was wanted in connection with murders of mainstream MQM party members, provincial government advisor Aftab Sheikh said.

Hundreds of activists of rival factions have died in clashes since the MQM split in 1991.

The mainstream MQM, led by Altaf Hussain, which supports Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali's coalition government, has been demanding Ahmed's arrest.

Sindh police chief Shah said thousands of security troops had been deployed in the city to search for those behind Sunday's attacks.

Police had no immediate official word about the motive behind the attack.

Shah earlier said the incident could be linked to the campaign that police had been waging for the last year against sectarian violence among militants of different factions.

"It could be work of those against whom we are active against in the past one year," he told AFP.

Karachi has also seen periodic attacks over the last two years targeting western interests and some Christian sites.

The United States consulate in Karachi was the target of a car bomb in June 2002 which killed 12 Pakistani bystanders and guards.

A month earlier, 11 French naval engineers and three Pakistanis were killed by a bomb outside the city's Sheraton Hotel.