Soldiers killed in al-Qaeda hunt

Pakistan says more than 100 suspects have been detained

Pakistan says at least 14 more soldiers have been killed as the operation to root out Islamic militants continues on the Afghan border.

Eleven died on Monday on their way to the South Waziristan area, and three died on Tuesday in an attack on an army camp in nearby Kurram tribal agency.

The army operation is aimed against al-Qaeda and Taleban suspects and tribesmen sheltering them.

About 30 troops have been killed since the operation began a week ago.

Serious incident

Local officials in North West Frontier Province say that 11 soldiers died and some were critically injured when a convoy bringing reinforcements to South Waziristan was attacked with rockets.

A fuel tanker and a number of trucks were destroyed in what was the first serious attack outside the semi-autonomous tribal areas.

Map of the wider region

No group has said it carried out the attack, but some local residents said it appeared to be the work of those sympathetic to suspected Islamic militants currently besieged in South Waziristan.

In a separate attack on Tuesday, three solders were killed and four others seriously wounded when an army camp in the Kurram tribal agency - which adjoins North Waziristan - came under rocket fire.

Dozens of people have been killed or injured since the military operation against suspected al-Qaeda and local militants began a week ago.

Several thousand troops are keeping a tight cordon in a vast area near the Afghan border where an estimated 400 militants and local tribesmen have clashed with security forces.

A BBC correspondent in Islamabad says that efforts by tribal leaders on Monday to persuade the militants to surrender failed, resulting in more fighting.

The military said troops had killed or arrested a large number of militants, including Chechens and Arabs.

A spokesman said that the army would continue pounding the area with artillery until all the militants surrendered.

'Biggest-ever operation'

Earlier it was alleged that a senior al-Qaeda member was among those trapped, but the authorities said on Monday that he may have escaped through a number of tunnels.

Brigadier Mehmood Shah told reporters that one of them was "a two-kilometre-long tunnel running between the homes of two wanted tribesmen and leading to a stream".

Officials have been downplaying speculation that al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahri could be trapped, saying it is more likely to be a senior Uzbek or Chechen militant.

The operation is the army's biggest-ever in the tribal areas along the Afghan border, which have traditionally run their own affairs without outside interference.

US-led forces are backing the Pakistani operation by patrolling the area on the Afghan side of the border.

In another development, Islamabad on Monday reacted angrily to remarks made by the US ambassador to Afghanistan who said that senior members of the Taleban were hiding in safe havens in Pakistan and launching attacks in eastern and southern Afghanistan.

"Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad is clearly out of his depth," said foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan.

"He should desist from making such statements that can only cause misunderstandings."

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