ISLAMABAD: Pakistani intelligence officials denied reports on Thursday that an American development expert, kidnapped 12 days ago in Lahore, had been rescued, saying an early morning rescue operation was unsuccessful.

Early reports from police officials and local media said Warren Weinstein, 70, the country director for J.E. Austin Associates Inc., an Arlington, Virginia.-based consulting firm, had been rescued in Khushab in Punjab province.

“He has not been recovered yet,” a senior intelligence official in Punjab told Reuters.He criticised the Lahore police chief, Ahmed Raza Tahir, for telling the media yesterday that Weinstein would be recovered “soon” and jeopardising an intelligence operation to rescue him.

“There was an operation in the Khushab area this morning, but it was unsuccessful, as the captors moved away,” the intelligence official said.

Earlier, a police official told Reuters that Weinstein had been rescued. Local television channels also reported the release.

Two hours after the initial reports, the US embassy said it could not confirm Weinstein's rescue. A spokeswoman for the embassy said it was in contact with police officials, and none of them could confirm it either.

Weinstein had been working on a development project in Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas where Pakistani troops have been battling insurgents for years.

Up to eight assailants kidnapped Weinstein in a pre-dawn raid on his house in Lahore on August 13.

The raid raised worries among aid workers, diplomats and other foreigners working in Pakistan, which is battling a militancy and where anti-American sentiments run very high.

Weinstein had been living in Pakistan for five to six years, according to police. He mostly lived in Islamabad but had been travelling to Lahore.

Kidnapping for ransom is relatively common in Pakistan, although foreigners are not often targets.

Militants also occasionally take foreigners hostage but these incidents have taken place in the volatile western regions bordering Afghanistan, where insurgents are very active.

Pakistani Taliban, linked to al-Qaeda, have claimed responsibility for kidnapping a Swiss couple in July in the volatile southwestern province of Balochistan.

Eight Pakistani employees of a US-based aid organisation, American Refugee Committee, were kidnapped in the western province of Balochistan last month.