US-led forces kill 24 rebels on Pak border

The fighters, believed to belong to pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda forces, were killed crossing into Pakistan late on Thursday near Lowara Mandi, a border village in the North Waziristan tribal region, Major-General Shaukat Sultan said.

"Apparently these people were trying to escape into Pakistani territory when they were hit by coalition forces. Their bodies are, of course, with the Pakistani authorities," Sultan told Reuters.

"They are foreigners and suspected Taliban. They could be Afghans and people of central Asian origin," he added.

Paramilitary sources in North Waziristan said the militants had fired missiles at a base for US-led and Afghan forces some three km across the border.

"The coalition forces returned fire using rockets and heavy weapons," a paramilitary official told Reuters.

A witness said he saw US helicopters engaged in the attack, while Geo television said the fighters were killed by a missile.

Sultan said the US side had informed their Pakistani counterparts before opening fire on the fleeing militants, but there would still be a check to see whether there had been any violation of Pakistani territory or airspace.

Pakistan has bridled in the past at US forces' sorties across the border in the area around Lowara Mandi.

A US military spokesman in Afghanistan said he had no information about the incident.

Tension has been building for months in North Waziristan since the Pakistan Army completed a series of offensives to dislodge al-Qaeda bases in neighboring South Waziristan.

On Thursday, a Pakistani general warned tribes in North Waziristan of an imminent offensive to flush out foreign militants, including al-Qaeda fighters.

At a meeting with tribal elders, Major-General Akram Sahi, commander of Pakistani troops in North Waziristan, gave the tribesmen 24 hours to hand over suspected militants.