Pakistan doubts al-Zawahri among those surrounded

8.50am

WANA - Pakistan's army has arrested over 100 suspected militants after five days of intense battles near the Afghan border but said it was unlikely al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahri was among those still surrounded.

Instead a senior commander said the "high-value target" whom the militants were thought to be protecting was probably an Uzbek or Chechen militant leader.

Pakistani forces began to flush out foreign militants and local tribal allies from their heavily fortified mud-walled compounds in the country's wild west this morning (NZ time), after raining fire on their hideouts overnight.

But the army continues to face the stiffest resistance it has encountered since last year launching operations in the lawless tribal areas in an attempt to find al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his supporters.

Commanders said the fierce defence suggested rebels were trying to protect a "high-value target," with officials initially speculating it might have been Zawahri.

But intercepted rebel radio communications suggested the mystery militant was Uzbek or Chechen. Zawahri is Egyptian.

"All the intercepts we have been receiving have been in the Chechen or Uzbek language," Lieutenant-General Safdar Hussain told reporters in the western town of Wana, near the fighting.

Zawahri, a doctor, is regarded as the brains of al Qaeda and a key figure behind the September 11 attacks on the United States.

An intelligence source said two Chechen militants, named as Danyar and Quaran Ata, were believed to be in the area and prominent Uzbek militant, Tahir Yaldashev, may be with them.

CHASING SHADOWS

The offensive, involving several thousand soldiers, is the biggest Pakistan has waged since it joined the US-led war on terror after September 11.

Dozens of fighters have been killed and about 100 suspected militants, many of them foreigners, captured, the army said.

"They are extremely professional fighters. They wait for our troops to move within five to seven metres and then open fire," said Hussain, the top military commander in the region.

"They are taking us from every direction whenever our troops have moved in and we are not knowing if the locals are with us," he said. "With an undefined target like this, it is practically chasing shadows."

Reporters saw an army truck carrying 30 or 40 prisoners, blindfolded and with hands tied behind their backs.

Most were bearded and wearing traditional Pakistani long shirt and baggy trousers. Some wore Muslim prayer caps, others the brown woolen hats common in the mountains.

Hussain said the militants were defending long-established camps in the wild South Waziristan tribal area, with an extensive network of trenches and sentries on watchtowers.

Pakistani forces first went in on Tuesday but ran into a hail of fire and had to retreat in disarray, losing 16 men, local officials said.

Since then they have stationed 2,500 troops in a 60km cordon around the area, with a similar number fighting and searching houses inside the zone.

Up to 13 civilians died on Saturday when their vehicles were fired on, but it was unclear by whom. A senior security official said militants had fired on the vehicles inside the army cordon but two local officials said an army helicopter had fired.

Hussain said the battle would soon be over.

About a dozen Americans have been giving Pakistani forces technical assistance in intelligence gathering but no US ground troops have been involved, the military said.

Across the border in Afghanistan, US-led forces have launched a push against the resurgent Taleban militia and their al Qaeda allies. The Pentagon is calling the twin offensives on either side of the rugged border a "hammer and anvil" operation.

Hardline Islamic clerics have denounced the attack, saying that it could breed terror strikes.

- REUTERS