ANGOOR ADDA, Pakistan, October 2 (IslamOnline.net &) - Twelve Al-Qaeda "suspects" have been killed Thursday, October 2, in a gun battle with Pakistani troops during a raid on a camp in the tribal district of South Waziristan bordering Afghanistan, as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage delayed his visit to Pakistan.

At least 10 people were captured, including four Al-Qaeda and six Taliban suspects, Pakistani military officials said.

Military commanders took journalists to the site of the operation to show them the bodies of four men described as "foreign" Al-Qaeda suspects, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Journalists were also shown the suspected Al-Qaeda detainees, who were stripped to the waist and blindfolded.

The gunfight broke out after Pakistani troops surrounded what they called an Al-Qaeda base some five kilometers (three miles) from the porous border with Afghanistan in South Waziristan tribal area, Major General Faisal Alavi said.

"By first light we had surrounded the camp. We asked them to surrender. They did not surrender. They opened fire," Alavi, special forces commander in charge of operation, told AFP.

"We raided a camp identified as an Al-Qaeda camp. Until (11:00 am) they had not surrendered, we were still fighting it out."

The camp had been identified on Wednesday, October 1, by Pakistani intelligence agencies, he said.

It was four to five kilometers from the town of Angoor Adda, in South Waziristan.

Before the shooting broke out, women and children had come out from one of the houses in the camp. Their nationalities were unclear but the Pakistani officers said they were foreigners.

"From what the women and children told us, they are foreigners," Alavi said.

"They came out of one house, but from the rest of the houses came firing. We took them on," he added.

The operation involved attack helicopters and ground troops.

Hundreds of Al-Qaeda fugitives have taken refuge in Angoor Adda since late 2001, according to local human rights activists.

Afghan officials have repeatedly pointed to South Waziristan as the source of attacks by resurgent Taliban fighters.

The deeply conservative tribal district faces southeastern Afghanistan's Paktika province, which has borne the brunt of an upsurge attacks by the regrouped Taliban.

The Afghan district of Barmal, which has been under Taliban control for the past six weeks, lies 15 kilometers from the border with South Waziristan.

South Waziristan is also facing the Afghan region of Shkin, home of the most attacked U.S. base in Afghanistan.

He maintained he could not say for sure if they were Al-Qaeda fugitives but they were clearly "foreign elements".

"There are all possibilities some of these people might have been involved in these actions. I would say there is a great possibility."

"When these people escaped (Shkin area) they came and took refuge in this area. They were trapped by our people.

"Once their presence was confirmed we launched an operation, we went in this morning," Sultan said.

U.S. warplanes have dropped bombs near Angoor Adda in recent months in pursuit of Taliban fighters fleeing back into Pakistan after attacking U.S. troops.

Armitage’s Visit Delayed

Meanwhile, top U.S. envoys due in Islamabad late Thursday have postponed their trip, the Pakistani foreign ministry said.

Armitage and top U.S. envoy for South Asia Christina Rocca were to arrive in the Pakistani capital Thursday before departing for Afghanistan.

Their original itinerary had them returning Saturday to Islamabad for talks with President Pervez Musharraf and then traveling on to Uzbekistan.

"The visit has been delayed at the last minute because of a scheduling issue," foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan told AFP.

"The whole trip has been delayed."