PESHAWAR, Nov 13: The Pakistan army captured the Shinkay area from the Al Qaeda-linked tribal and foreign militants in the Mehsud dominated area of South Waziristan on Saturday, said an army general.

However, he was unable to say how many casualties the two sides had suffered during the gunfight, which continued till evening.

The army soldiers also recovered a huge quantity of arms, ammunitions and bomb-making devices from six caves near the house of militant leader Abdullah Mehsud and the rugged mountainous region of Karawan Manza during the last four days after the escape of terrorists.

The political authorities and army were holding negotiations with militants through a retired lieutenant colonel, who is also a close relative of Abdullah Meshud, and are trying to solve the ongoing conflict through political means, sources told Dawn.

The army had finished the long military operation in the Wazir-dominated region and are now focused on the Mehsud area, said Gen Niaz Khattak, the field commander of Pakistan army in South Waziristan.

A group of journalists from Peshawar and Islamabad, including foreign media-persons, was invited to Wana and briefed on the current situation.

"There will be no more military operation in the Wazirs' area because we have cleared the region of Al Qaeda-linked tribal and foreign militants," the general said.

The most wanted five militants led by Haji Mohammad Omar had agreed a couple of days ago with the political authorities that they would not harbour foreign militants and would lead a peaceful life.

But some miscreants would try to sabotage the peace process. On Saturday morning, for instance, these elements detonated an improvised explosive device in the Wana bazaar, injuring four soldiers, Gen Khattak said.

The injured were later shifted in the evening to the Combined Military Hospital in Peshawar due to their precarious conditions.

"They are not militants. They are miscreants, who will continue their anti-social activities. But they are confined only to the Wana bazaar, where there is always a possibility of collateral damage if the army retaliates," the field commander added.

The army was avoiding civilian casualties, a reason why the operation had taken so long, he added.

Gen Khattak also claimed that the recent killings of 13 persons of the local peace committee at the Shiekh Ziyarat area were not a result of artillery shelling by the army.