Soldiers launched a major offensive in the rugged North Waziristan region on Thursday against insurgents with alleged links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

It is part of a wider operation to clear all Pakistan's wild-west style tribal badlands of guerrilla fighters who crossed from Afghanistan after the fall of the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001.

"Our estimate is between 30 to 40 miscreants have died and out of these at least 15 to 20 are foreigners, mostly of Central Asian origin," chief military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP.

"No one has gone there and counted their bodies but intelligence intercepts indicate about 30 to 40 militants have died."

Last week local officials also said at least 30 insurgents had died in the crackdown near the remote village of Khatey Killay but the military did not confirm the figure at the time.

Seven Pakistani soldiers were also killed in the recent offensive, during which military gunship helicopters pounded suspected rebel hideouts, Sultan added.

Women and children were temporarily ordered to leave the village during the assault, while tribal leaders on Monday called on the government to stop the attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

In the most recent violence, local officials said Tuesday that nine officials and soldiers were wounded by a bomb at the Khwaja Khar checkpost in North Waziristan.

The blast badly damaged two vehicles and the wounded men included an army major and a captain, an official said on condition of anonymity, adding that their injuries were not life-threatening.

Six militants were killed on Sunday in a clash at a checkpost, while a key aide to a leading Uzbek militant and confidant of Bin Laden was reportedly killed during last week's attacks.

Last year Pakistani forces fought pitched battles against insurgents in neighbouring tribal areas, killing hundreds of rebels but losing more than 250 soldiers.

US, Pakistani and Afghan officials have repeatedly said they think Bin Laden himself is hiding somewhere along the rugged Pakistan-Afghanistan border, perhaps sheltered by the local tribes.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf told Time magazine last month that intelligence services had a rough idea where he was a year ago, but added that he would "prefer that he's captured somewhere outside Pakistan".