PESHAWAR, 5 September 2003 — A fleet of Pakistani military helicopters swooped over the tribal belt that borders Afghanistan in a renewed hunt for Al-Qaeda and Taleban, witnesses said yesterday.

Government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several of the helicopters carried “foreign” forces, an apparent reference to US forces.

The US military earlier deployed an unknown number of special forces into Pakistan’s rugged tribal region, but their whereabouts are secret and they keep a low profile, largely because of the deeply conservative nature of the area.

The tribesmen in the border region resent the presence of Pakistani troops and have demanded that US forces stay out, a view echoed by radical Islamic lawmakers that rule in Pakistan’s northwest.

“This kind of operation has jeopardized the independence and sovereignty of our country,” said Ikramullah Shahid, the deputy speaker of the North West Frontier Province’s legislature.

“No country has the right to trample our geographic frontiers and carry out operations on our land.”

The province is ruled by an alliance of six religious parties that has publicly expressed support for the defeated Taleban.

“This operation is against the feelings of the people in the province. This should be stopped immediately,” said Yasmin Khan, a veiled woman lawmaker.

Local residents reported stepped up activity at the airport in Bannu.

“Right now there are 12 helicopters on the ground at the airport in Bannu,” in northwest Pakistan, said Inayat Khan, a resident of the area. “Yesterday there were 24 helicopters.”

Officials said the majority of troops have moved into Angoorada and Azam Warzak areas near the Afghan border.

There was no indication of who was being sought or whether there was some fresh intelligence of fugitives in the area.

However, both US and Afghan officials have repeatedly said fugitive Al-Qaeda and Taleban have taken refuge in the region, where tribesmen have expressed a willingness to hide them.

There has also been speculation that suspected terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden may have taken refuge in the region.

Pakistani authorities don’t dismiss the possibility.

“He could be anywhere,” said foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan, earlier this week.

However, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat said Wednesday there is no proof of his presence in the tribal belt.

But he added the “noose was tightening” around Bin Laden, whose Al-Qaeda organization is believed to have carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

Hayyat didn’t elaborate but said intelligence garnered from recently arrested top Al-Qaeda men has reduced the number of places Bin Laden can hide.