The Pakistani army launched an operation against suspected Islamic militants Thursday in tribal lands near the Afghan border, it said.

"We have launched a search operation in South Waziristan to arrest foreign terrorists," military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan told Reuters.

Sultan would not be drawn on details but implied some contact had been made with a group of suspects in Waziristan, a semi-autonomous area in North West Frontier Province.

"The governor asked them to surrender voluntarily and unconditionally, but they refused," he said.

Witnesses in Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, said they had heard firing in two villages on the outskirts of the town and military helicopters flying overhead since just before daybreak.

Pakistan's rugged mountain region bordering Afghanistan is thought to be a haven for al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives.

There has been persistent speculation that al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden could have been hiding in the remote mountains of the region since disappearing from Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

In recent months Pakistani authorities launched a number of successful operations in tribal areas. In October, the army said it had killed eight al Qaeda or Taliban suspects and arrested 18 others in an operation close to the Afghan border in South Waziristan.

Afghanistan's former Taliban regime drew considerable support from the conservative Pashtun tribesmen of Pakistan's tribal areas.

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+Guangdong has a new suspected SARS case ( 2004-01-08) +Experts: Pan-blue camp makes dangerous U-turn ( 2004-01-08) +33,761 policemen dismissed ( 2004-01-08) +Taipei told to stop playing with fire ( 2004-01-07) +Movers and shakers in China's economy ( 2004-01-08)		+Pakistan launches operation against militants ( 2004-01-08) +The moment Saddam was dragged from his hole ( 2004-01-08) +Iraq WMD not imminent threat ( 2004-01-08) +NASA scientists want Mars Rover 'down in dirt' ( 2004-01-08) +Bush calls for immigration overhaul ( 2004-01-08)