Pakistan's military used helicopter gunships and artillery to pound suspected hideouts of al-Qaida-linked militants in mountains near the Afghan border on Saturday, officials and residents said.
The military launched its assault near Shakai, a remote village in South Waziristan tribal region, where militants are believed to be hiding but there was no word on casualties.
"We are hearing artillery fire from the military. So far there is no response from the other side," said a resident of Shakai, which lies 18 miles southwest of South Waziristan's main town of Wana.
Wana is 250 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said the assault came after militants stepped up their attacks on security forces in the region in recent days.
He said several suspected militants were killed in an exchange of fire on Thursday.
The military suffered no casualties in Saturday's attack or Thursday's clashes, he added.
A military official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that security forces had retrieved the body of one of the militants killed in Thursday's fighting and he was believed to an Uzbek.
Hundreds of foreign militants, including Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks linked to al-Qaida and their tribal allies are thought to be hiding in South Waziristan.
Militant training area
The forest-laden Shakai has been used as a training area for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida until recently, officials say.
The military said in June it had destroyed a house of a tribesman near Shakai where al-Qaida men used to stay and had also targeted a militant training camp and an al-Qaida safe house.
Sultan said militants had been flushed out of the area, which was now under military control.
The Pakistani military launched two major operations in March and June against militants from bin Laden's network in which more than 200 people were killed.
Time magazine said in its Monday edition that al-Qaida operatives had held a "summit" in March in the Waziristan region that could have been a key planning session similar to one that led to the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.
But the military denied any such meeting took place.
Pakistani intelligence officials say that a large number of militants fled South Waziristan after military operations and had taken shelter in major cities.
The security forces have launched a massive crackdown against al-Qaida-linked militants in the urban centers and have arrested more than 60 suspects since July, including a computer expert who has proved a key source of information about al-Qaida plans to launch attacks in Britain and the United States.
