Up to 30 Islamist rebels killed in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Mar 11 (Reuters) Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships attacked a hideout of Islamist militants in a tribal region near the Afghan border, killing up to 30 guerrillas, the military today said.

Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said the overnight attack in the North Waziristan tribal region was ordered after intelligence reports suggested that militants were gathered in a compound along with a huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives.

''According to initial information, around 25 to 30 miscreants, including foreigners, have been killed,'' he told Reuters.

Rugged North Waziristan has been the scene of fierce battles between security forces and Islamist militants this month.

More than 120 people have been killed since militants, most of them ethnic Pashtun tribesmen, attacked government forces and buildings last week, in revenge for a March 1 attack that killed 45 of their comrades.

Residents said the latest attack targeted an Islamic school or madrasa owned by a local Islamist cleric, Maulana Sadiq Noor, in Khatta Killi, a village around 10 km west of North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah. North Waziristan itself is around 400 km southwest of the capital, Islamabad.

It was unclear whether Noor was at the madrasa when the attack took place.

Noor and another cleric, Maulana Abdul Khaliq Haqqani, are wanted by authorities for harbouring militants.

The violence in the tribal region has highlighted the challenge facing President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U S-led war on terrorism, from militants allied to al Qaeda.

Many al Qaeda militants fled to the semi-autonomous tribal belt after U S and Afghan opposition forces ousted the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001, and took refuge with Taliban supporters among Pashtun clans on both sides of the border.

Pakistani forces have been trying to clear foreign militants from the area and subdue their Pakistani allies since 2004 and hundreds of people have been killed.

Afghan officials have long complained that militants use Pakistan's tribal region as a launching pad for attacks inside Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials say they are doing their best to stem the militants' cross-border movement and have urged Afghan authorities to do more on their side of the long, porous border.

Many Pashtun tribesmen sympathise with the Taliban, and al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri are believed to be hiding in the region.

REUTERS DKS DS1106