Pak troops search homes for militants

The military believes a "high-value" target is hunkered down in the besieged area in South Waziristan, but say its uncertain if it is Osama bin Laden's Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, or another suspected terrorist.

Troops searched for suspects and bodies, and faced no resistance on the sixth day of the operation, involving 5,000-6,000 Pakistani forces. On Saturday, the regional military commander vowed to eliminate some 400-500 foreign militants and local tribesmen sympathisers who remained in the area.

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"There is hardly any resistance from the terrorists," said an intelligence official in the main town in the region, Wana, about three miles from the fighting. He added that it could be part of a battle strategy. "Maybe they want our people to go close to them," he said.

Artillery that has been pounding the militants at night had fallen silent since midnight, but there was an occasional exchange of gunfire still going on, he said. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said Sunday in the capital Islamabad that the "operation is continuing."

The military has arrested more than 100 suspects so far, sending some of them to the provincial capital, Peshawar, for interrogation. It displayed about 40 of them at a military base in Wana on Saturday, but did not identify them.

Security officials said prisoners included Pakistanis, Arabs, Chechens, Uzbeks and ethnic Uighurs from China's predominantly Muslim Xinjiang province, but say it is difficult to distinguish the foreigners from locals, as they have often lived in the region for a long time and speak the local Pashto language.

The operation is the largest by Pakistan in its lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan since it threw its support behind the US-led war on terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks on America.

Thousands of tribespeople have fled their homes, and on Sunday at the hospital in Wana, berated the army for civilian casualties in the fighting.

According to local government officials in Wana and intelligence officials, about two dozen local people were killed in firing on five vehicles on Saturday. Army spokesman Sultan said the vehicles were fired because they were trying to escape a military cordon around the target area.