PESHAWAR, Feb 26: Foreign fugitive militants are visiting mosques in search of sanctuary and trying to shore up support by appealing to the conscience of the local tribesmen in the South Waziristan Agency, officials said on Thursday.

There have been reports suggesting that foreign militants - mostly second or third-tier foot soldiers - previously associated with Osama bin Laden were visiting mosques in the interior of the remote semi-autonomous tribal region to seek sympathy for being 'persecuted' by Pakistani authorities.

"These people, who have nowhere to go, are now on the run. Most of them have been living in the tribal region for years. We are receiving reports that local tribesmen, fearing the wrath of the government and military operations, are denying them sanctuary", sources said.

Reports suggested that Chechens and people from Central Asia were showing up at mosques to appeal to the tribesmen's conscience, attempting to win their sympathies. "This shows that our policy of unrelenting pressure on tribesmen is actually working ... There must be no let up in the pressure", these sources said.

Officials in Wana said that they had told tribesmen that the government had offered foreign militants to surrender peacefully and that they (foreigners) would be allowed to live in tribal areas if local tribesmen guarantee their future good conduct.

"We are trying to isolate these militants from the masses without whose support they can not survive. This (their appeals) shows the extent of their desperation," an official said.

And this was the message given to a tribal jirga of Ahmadzai Wazirs in Wana on Wednesday. Wana's deputy administrator Rehmatullah Wazir, while appreciating the cooperation and assistance of tribal elders in the Tuesday operation in Ziara Latta area, asked the jirga to hand over foreign militants to avoid punitive action.

Authorities warned that anyone found sheltering these militants would face seven years in prison besides paying a fine amounting to Rs1.5 million while the tribe concerned would also be fined Rs1 million.

Officials said that local tribes had been warned that any retaliation (against the Tuesday action) would entail "the toughest of action." Four Pakistan Army soldiers had lost their lives in two different incidents at an army camp near Wana last month after conducting an operation in Kalusha.

Meanwhile, officials confirmed that the 20 people arrested in the Tuesday operation were all locals. Investigators later recovered four passports issued by the government of Kazakhstan to a couple and their daughter and a teen-aged son.

It was also learnt that three of the four Pushto-speaking women, who were detained during the operation and later turned over to the tribal maliks in line with local traditions, were Afghans.

An official said the four passports bore visas dated October 2003 and issued by Pakistan's consulate in Zahedan, Iran, adding visas on two of the passports had expired only last week while visas on the other two passports were valid until August 2004.

An official called for stricter visa regime while investigators said they would like to question the women about the whereabouts of their men. They were also wondering as to what were the Kazakhs doing in South Waziristan.

"All that they could be proceeded against under the Pakistani laws would be entering the tribal areas without proper permission. They were apparently here on valid travel documents", an official familiar with the case said.

Officials said the troops had gone into Ziara Latta area after receiving specific information about the presence of 15 Kazakhs in the area. "There is an assessment that these people had managed to disappear into the (nearby) valley after hearing the sound of approaching helicopters", an official said.