General Musharraf -- told by US Vice President Dick Cheney on a surprise visit earlier this week to crack down on insurgents -- also urged Pakistanis to help by informing the authorities about extremist suspects.

"People have come there from outside. They are living in our mountains and spreading terrorism not just in Pakistan but in the entire world," the official Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Musharraf as saying late Wednesday.

"These people are putting Pakistan in danger. These people should leave and go, otherwise we will have to deal with them and we are dealing with them," he told a large public meeting in southern Sindh province.

The impact of terrorism was being felt throughout Pakistan and it was the public's duty to help, Musharraf said. "Identify and point out those who have such tendencies and inform the law enforcement agencies," he said.

Musharraf, who has escaped three assassination attempts blamed on Islamic militants opposed to his fight against extremism, also said that the country's development was being harmed by fundamentalism.

"We have to check such tendencies, otherwise the country will not be able to move on to the path of progress and development," he added.

Cheney on Monday said Washington was concerned that al-Qaeda was regrouping in Pakistan's northwestern tribal zone and that Taliban rebels based there were preparing for a spring offensive against foreign troops in Afghanistan.

The US vice president's brief trip to Islamabad came amid reports that US aid could be cut if Pakistan did not take more action to hunt down Islamic militants.

The next day Cheney was forced to take shelter when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of the main US base in Afghanistan. Cheney was unhurt but Afghan officials said 20 people were killed.

Pakistan says it has killed up to 1,000 militants and lost 700 soldiers in military action in the tribal areas since 2003, but it has since signed peace deals with militants in North and South Waziristan districts.

US and Afghan officials say attacks across the border have soared as a result of the pact.