12 soldiers die in border ambush

Twelve soldiers were killed and 15 injured when a Pakistani army convoy heading toward a counter-terrorism sweep against al-Qaida militants near the Afghan border was ambushed, officials said today.

The attackers fired rockets that hit at least six army trucks in the ambush near Sarwakai, about 30 miles east of Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal region.

Some of the trucks were carrying petrol and were destroyed by fire in the attack, a government official in Sarwakai said.

Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said troops had cordoned off the area to search for the attackers, but refused to give more details.

Meanwhile, a bid by tribal elders to end a week of fierce clashes near Wana between thousands of Pakistani troops and hundreds of suspected al-Qaida militants and sympathetic Yargul Khel tribesmen made little headway when they visited the battle zone yesterday.

The elders were meeting with local officials in Wana on today to discuss their next step.

Pakistani officials said yesterday they had discovered a mile-long tunnel leading from a besieged mud fortress that could have offered an escape route for top al-Qaida suspects at the start of the operation.

President General Pervez Musharraf has said that a “high-value” target was probably at the site. Some senior Pakistani officials said they believed al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, may have been there, although the government has repeatedly said it does not know who is inside.