Warships from countries including China and Britain along with host Pakistan began a naval exercise yesterday designed to strengthen cooperation against maritime terrorism, the Pakistani navy said.

A total of 27 countries also including the United States and Iran are participating in the weeklong "Aman 07" exercise centered on Karachi, Pakistan's main port on the Arabian Sea and the home to its navy.

In an initial "harbor phase," naval officials will attend conferences and exchange information on the capabilities of their forces, navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Salman Ali said. Exercises at sea begin tomorrow, Ali said.

Britain, France, China, Malaysia and Bangladesh have already sent ships to Karachi for the war games. Ships or special forces were to arrive from Italy, Turkey and the United States later yesterday. Iran and other countries are sending observers.

Yesterday's exercise began as 17 people, including 12 Al-Qaida-linked Uzbeks, were killed in the first reported clash between militants and tribesmen in a Pakistani region seen as a hotbed of militant support.

Three Pakistani tribesmen and two Afghan refugees were among the dead in the fighting in Azam Warsak, a village in the South Waziristan region near the Afghan border.

Hundreds of foreign militants, most of them Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, have been hiding in Waziristan and some other Pakistani tribal areas after fleeing Afghanistan when US-led forces defeated the Taliban in late 2001.

Source: China Daily/agencies