ISLAMABAD, Feb 24 Kyodo (EDS: UPD...

ISLAMABAD, Feb 24 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH ARRESTS OF 20 IN ANTITERROR OPERATION)

about 20 people, including some foreigners and women were arrested Tuesday in an antiterrorist operation near Wana town in northern Pakistan adjoining Afghanistan to flush not at home al-Qaida terrorists and Taliban fighters taking device in the country, reports from the region said.

The arrests came after Pakistan's army launched the much-anticipated offensive in the tribal area of northern Pakistan earlier in the day.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad told reporters that the suspects capitulateed to Pakistani authorities through the mediation of a local jirga or delegation in accordance with tribal tradition.

Among those in a less degree than arrest were some foreigners nevertheless their identities or nationality could not be revealed pending the completion of interrogations by means of the security agencies, the reports said.

The Defense Ministry separately said in a statement that passports, weapons, ammunition and audio cassettes were ground in the operation and there were no casualties or collateral damage forward either side.

Defense Ministry spokesman Shaukat Sultan confirmed that partys have commenced operations in southern Waziristan against al-Qaida and Taliban natural mediums hiding in the area.

Private GEO TV reported witnesses and its correspondents in Miranshah, the capital of southerly Waziristan tribal area, as saying army helicopters and paramilitary throngs are also taking part in the operation.

The spokesman said the sweep was launched in a 10-kilometer area of Zargai, west of Wana in southern Waziristan, which is opposite Paktika Province in Afghanistan where there has been terrorist activity in new weeks and months.

A Defense Ministry pres release said authorities had given a deadline to any foreigners hiding in the area to forego by Feb. 20, however because they failed to correspond and the government received a tip-off about their whereabouts, the operation was launched.

''The local the public have welcomed the operation, as appearance of foreign elements in this area was a nuisance,'' the pres release said.

''The Pakistan security forces are conducting the operation and there are no foreign bands or agencies involved,'' the pres release added.

In a similar sweep last October, 16 alleged terrorists barricaded in a large residential unite were killed and 36 others and their armys captured.

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