Manhunt for clerics behind Pak clashes

Sporadic clashes erupted overnight although the situation was mostly calm amid a curfew in the town of Miranshah, where 140 militants have died in days of fierce fighting that erupted on Saturday.

Security forces arrested seven suspects in overnight raids in Miranshah, the main town in the troubled North Waziristan tribal region. Elders and local officials were in talks to end the violence.

"We are desperately searching for the two main culprits, Maulvi Abdul Khaleq and Maulvi Sadiq Noor, but we still do not have any information about their whereabouts" a senior security official told AFP.

Officials said Noor and Khaleq have been trying to impose strict Islamic laws in Miranshah and are closely linked to the Taliban, the fundamentalist regime ousted from Afghanistan in a US-led invasion in late 2001.