By the end of the year the Army claimed to have killed more than 1,000 militants, including the local Al-Qaeda commander, an Egyptian called Abu Saeed Al-Masri.[10] The Army suffered 20 casualties.[11] The Pakistani army has also encouraged local tribes to rise against the Taliban, by raising lashkars (tribal militias) to fight alongside the government forces. The Salarzai tribe, that reportedly counts 4,000 armed fighters, responded favourably to this initiative.[1] On 7 October, the Salarzai elders announced that they had cleared their tribal territory of militants, and requested the deployment of government troops to consolidate the gains they had made.[12]