Several Pakistani army commandoes, who were air-dropped in areas held by Al Qaeda militants in the south Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, appeared to have been trapped and efforts are on to rescue them.

While the details of the army operation, which continued into its fourth day on Sunday, were sketchy due to restrictions imposed by Pakistan authorities on media, local tribesmen from the Mandata and Shakai areas told the News daily about the commandos being trapped.

They said elders from local tribes have been approached to negotiate with militants for safe return of the trapped personnel. However, there was no official reaction to the report so far.

Reports from the Waziristan area said fighting died down on Saturday mainly due to the fact that authorities had started negotiations with the militants through local tribal elders.