WASHINGTON, July 25: Attacks by militants along the Afghan-Pakistani border doubled last month over the same period in 2006, but are decreasing now because of Pakistan’s new military operations on its side of the frontier, a top US commander said on Wednesday.

Army Maj-Gen David Rodriguez also said there has been a 50 per cent to 60 per cent increase over last year in the number of foreign fighters flowing into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

Rodriguez estimated that they account for less than 5 per cent of insurgents there and said they execute a minority of attacks. But they provide money and other resources and have “leadership skills” to serve as a core for forming larger groups, he told Pentagon reporters via video conference from Afghanistan.

Rodriguez declined to say how many foreign fighters he was talking about. He also offered no figures on the number of attacks, saying only: “Last month it was about double what it was a year ago the same month.

“It’s... decreased a little in the past month, mainly because of the Pakistani military operations being conducted at the present time.”

A confrontation between militants and the government of President Gen Pervez Musharraf has escalated this month after a bloody raid on a radical mosque in Islamabad and the redeployment of Pakistani troops to the tribal region in northwest Pakistan.

A 10-month-old peace deal between the government and militants in the region has broken down. Washington has described the peace pact as a failure that gave Al Qaeda breathing room to regroup — and perhaps plot another big attack on the United States.—AP