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PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Friday (AFP) Hundreds of Pakistani soldiers ceased operations against a remote tribal village after tribesmen promised to hunt and hand over four wanted foreigners who they said had escaped from their custody.

"We have halted the operation after tribal elders said the fugitives had escaped," a home ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

"They promised to cooperate with the authorities to find them," he said.

Authorities suspect the "foreigners," who were snatched from their grasp by up to 60 armed tribesmen after being apprehended during a routine car-check, may be linked to al-Qaeda.

Some 6,000 Pakistani troops, assisted by intelligence and communications experts from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, have been scouring the north-west tribal border belt for months for al-Qaeda fugitives from Afghanistan.

Tribal leader Maulana Saeedullah said they held four rounds of negotiations with the authorities and were able to convince them to stop the operation.

"We have told the authorities that we will not protect any al-Qaeda or Taliban fugitives and convinced them to stop operations in the area," he told AFP.

Saeedullah said the fugitives had slipped away from the area.

Regular troops and paramilitaries pounded Janikhel village, around 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Peshawar, with heavy weapons and demolished homes in an attempt to flush out the wanted men after tribesmen refused to hand them over.

The security forces later moved in to Janikhel on foot and arrested more than a dozen tribesmen.

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