Pakistan soldiers killed in al-Qa'ida battle

Suspected al-Qa'ida fighters killed 10 Pakistani soldiers in a gunbattle today in a remote area of Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, the Pakistan military said.

At least two attackers were also killed in the fight, which occurred before dawn and lasted for about four hours, an Interior Ministry source said. The Pakistani dead included a major and a captain, the official said. One suspected al-Qa'ida fighter was captured.

They were the first known combat deaths suffered by Pakistani soldiers since the government sent troops to the border last year to try to intercept Taliban and al-Qa'ida fugitives fleeing across the Afghan border.

The fight broke out as Pakistani soldiers raided houses near the town of Wana, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) west of Islamabad, in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, the Pakistani military said in a statement.

"In an effort to apprehend the al-Qa'ida elements using minimum force due to concern for safety of the civilian population, ten security persons," were killed, the statement said.

"A number of al-Qa'ida foreign terrorists were also killed," the statement said.

The statement gave no further details of the attack. But the Interior Ministry official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the Pakistani troops were acting on tips received from the FBI that al-Qa'ida operatives were in the area. FBI agents are in Pakistan helping local authorities investigate recent attacks on Western targets.

He said some soldiers were wounded and evacuated by helicopter to nearby hospitals.

In Washington, Air Force Brig. Gen. John Rosa Jr. told a Pentagon news conference this week that he did not know how many al-Qa'ida fugitives have slipped into Pakistan. He noted that Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill, commander of US troops in Afghanistan, was quoted recently as saying as many as 1,000 al-Qa'ida fighters still operate in small groups on both sides of the mountainous border area.

US and British troops have been scouring border areas in south-eastern Afghanistan for al-Qa'ida and Taliban holdouts. They have found several weapons caches, but few fighters.