Rebels 'free six Pakistan troops'

Scores of soldiers have been kidnapped in recent days

Pro-Taleban militants have released six Pakistani soldiers from among scores of troops they are holding hostage near the Afghan border, officials say.

The six were handed over after talks in the tribal region of South Waziristan.

The rebels say they are holding 300 men after surrounding and disarming them without a fight last Thursday.

Violence has soared since troops were sent in to oust radical Islamists from Islamabad's Red Mosque in July. More than 100 people died in the operation.

'Hopeful'

Urgent talks have been going on to secure the men's passage to safety after they went missing in the Ladha area of South Waziristan on 30 August.

Local tribal elders have been mediating.

The militants have demanded the release of a number of prisoners and an end to military deployment in their area.

On Tuesday, 10 soldiers were freed in another tribal agency, Mohmand, four days after they were captured.

Last month, militants freed 18 soldiers, but only after they had beheaded one and videotaped the killing.

The militants say the government agreed to pull forces out from some areas and are angry this has not happened.

Government officials say they are considering other options if negotiations fail.

"We are hopeful that the matter will be resolved in two days, but if negotiations don't work, we will use other options," interior ministry spokesman Brig Iqbal Cheema told the BBC.

The army has given conflicting accounts of what happened to the soldiers in Ladha on 30 August.

First they said the men had been caught in bad weather and had taken shelter.

Then they said no troops had been seized, but that about 180 men were stuck in fighting between militants and tribesmen and unable to leave.