Pakistan forces battle militants

Pakistan says it has killed up to 40 militants this week

Pakistani security forces say they have knocked out several militant bases in the latest phase of their operation in the Afghan border region.

A Pakistani commander, Maj Gen Niaz Khattak, said government forces had killed large numbers of militants and destroyed "terrorist hideouts".

He said six bodies had been recovered, all of them Pakistanis.

One target is Abdullah Mehsud, a militant chief and a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner.

Mehsud, a one-legged 29-year-old, is suspected of kidnapping two Chinese engineers last month. One of the hostages died in a rescue attempt by Pakistani forces, and the other was freed.

The army says it has recovered Mehsud's horse and ammunition from caves near the South Waziristan village of Noni.

Major operation

About 7,000 Pakistani troops, backed by helicopter gunships and artillery, were sent into action in the tribal region this week.

Profile: Abdullah Mehsud

The BBC's Paul Anderson who has just visited the area, says the Pakistan military is in the throes of its biggest operations so far.

It began large-scale operations against suspected foreign militants in March. It believes hundreds of foreign Islamic militants, including Arabs, Afghans and Central Asians, are holed up in the region.

The US says al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and other senior figures could be hiding there, but Pakistani officials disagree.

"So far I have no indication of Osama Bin Laden is here. We have not even heard rumours about him," Gen Khattak said.

But he said Pakistani and foreign militants in the area were fast running out of safe havens.

He said 30 to 40 militants had been killed in the last six days, while three soldiers had died.

The general said three-quarters of South Waziristan was now under government control, vowing to gain control of the rest by the end of the year.

But our correspondent says that timeframe might be optimistic - the area is a big, remote and inhospitable terrain that gives guerrillas ample opportunity to hide in caves and gullies.