ISLAMABAD, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Tribesmen in a violence-hit Pakistani tribal region said Sunday they would support security forces' operation against militants to expel them from the area, according to local press reports.

　　A jirga, or council of tribal elders, of 10 tribes decided Sunday that tribesmen would fully back the forces if they launched operation against the militants.

　　Iqbal Hussain Turi, a jirga member, said that the jirga meeting urged the security forces to launch operation against the militants to save lives of the people.

　　He also demanded the government stop militants from entering the Kurrum agency from other tribal regions.

　　All roads to the Kurrum agency are closed, and markets, offices as well as government and private educational institutions are shut.

　　State-run PTV reported that clashes between armed supporters of two rival groups Sunday claimed 23 more lives in the Kurrum agency in northwestern Pakistan.

　　The death toll from the 11-day fighting has reached 194 and the injured are at 286, according to the PTV.

　　The clashes, in which both sides are using heavy weapons, have forced hundreds of families to flee to other areas. Dozens of villages of both groups were burned in the clashes.

　　Warring factions have ignored a 74-hour deadline set by the central government Friday to stop fighting.

　　Interior advisor to Prime Minister Rehman Malik warned the factions that the government would use force against both groups if they did not stop fighting. The deadline has passed but the forces have not yet intervened.

　　Malik Sunday again appealed to the two factions to lay down arms for the sake of the people, who have suffered a lot and many have already fled and a large numbers are confined to houses.