ISLAMABAD, March 30: Army on Tuesday distanced itself from an earlier claim that Al Qaeda's intelligence chief Abdullah was killed in the operation against terrorists in South Waziristan.

Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan told newsmen that Abdullah was not a front-line leader of Al Qaeda but a 'local operative' who had been working for the terrorist group for some time.

The ISPR chief had said in a press briefing at the Foreign Office on Monday that troops had succeeded in killing Al Qaeda's spy chief. "The man identified only as 'Mr Abdullah' was merely a small-time local operative," he said on Tuesday.

Sources here said Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah was on the "most wanted list" of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). "He is not really the intelligence chief for all Al Qaeda, but one of the top intelligence people in Wana for Al Qaeda," the ISPR chief added.

Gen Sultan refused to say if the military had found Abdullah's body, saying he had no details about the full name, nationality and identity of the man. Some 63 militants were killed and 166 local and foreign fighters, including Afghans, Arabs, Chechens, Uighurs from China and Uzbeks were captured in the operation, which was wound up on Sunday, Gen Sultan said.

The spokesman said that at least 46 troops had been killed and 26 wounded, adding that, it was Pakistan's worst toll in its two-year hunt for Al Qaeda fighters. The government, Gen Sultan said, had suspended the operation to give time to tribal elders to play their role to persuade foreign militants to surrender.