Pakistan declares ceasefire with al-Qaida fighters

PAKISTAN'S army declared a ceasefire yesterday with suspected al-Qaida fighters near the Afghan border to allow tribal elders to try to negotiate the militants' surrender.

The army says hundreds of al-Qaida suspects and their Pakistani tribal allies are surrounded in the desolate mountains but added fighting had subsided yesterday after a week of clashes.

Last week officials said they thought al-Qaida number two Ayman al-Zawahri might be among those surrounded but the army has dismissed those reports as "conjecture".