ISLAMABAD, 20 March 2004 — Pakistani troops who saw a heavily guarded “foreigner” flee a siege near the Afghan border in a bullet-proof landcruiser are certain he was not Osama Bin Laden, a senior security official said yesterday.

But the level and sophistication of resistance put up by scores of heavily armed fighters as he escaped made them conclude it could be the Al-Qaeda chief’s No. 2, the official said.

“The Frontier Corps troops who saw this foreigner said they were certain it was not Bin Laden, but they speculated it could be Ayman Al-Zawahiri,” the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

“The way he was whisked away, the way fighters sprang from nowhere, that made us believe that if it was not Bin Laden, and we’re sure it was not, that it was his deputy.

“We can’t think of another Al-Qaeda leader who could have such high protocol and such sophisticated tight defense.”

The foreigner was spotted in a four-wheel drive fleeing a siege of tribesmen’s homes in remote Kalushah village in South Waziristan, some 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) east of the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan’s tribal zone, on Tuesday.

A contingent of 50 paramilitary troops were attacked with grenades and sub-machineguns while approaching a fortress-like compound in a hunt for tribesmen wanted for sheltering Al-Qaeda fugitives.

Suddenly a landcruiser appeared and sped away, as two other landcruisers — also carrying foreigners — emerged to protect the first car and dozens of fighters sprang from several directions to pound the soldiers with gunfire and grenades.

The entire troop contingent was “virtually wiped out,” the official said.

Fifteen were killed, 22 were injured, and another 13 are still missing.

Soldiers who survived the onslaught said the foreigner in the first landcruiser had “outlandish features,” and was “neat and clean” in appearance.

They fired at the vehicle but the bullets bounced off, only managing to hit one of its tires.

“We haven’t seen a bullet-proof vehicle in the area before and the theory is that it was carrying a high profile Al-Qaeda leader, possibly Zawahiri,” the official said.

The fighters appeared to be a mix of foreigners and local tribesmen, he added.

“The troops are in no doubt that the militants showed up just to protect those vehicles,” he added.

One of the vehicles was blown up by a mortar and the two foreign-looking men inside were killed. “Their faces were mutilated but we think they could have been Uzbeks,” the official said.

The well-protected “foreigner” who escaped Tuesday could well have slipped the net of Pakistani forces, who are still pounding the area with mortars and helicopter gunships, the official said.

Meanwhile, the White House could not confirm reports yesterday that Pakistani troops had clashed with gunmen protecting Al-Zawahiri, close to the Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.

“We don’t know who is there. There are reports there are high-value targets there. We just know there’s a fierce battle in an important area,” National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice said on ABC television.