ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani troops backed by helicopters launched an offensive Thursday to capture suspected al-Qaida fugitives hiding in the mountains along the Afghan border, believed to be a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden.

Gen. Shaukat Sultan, spokesman for Pakistan's army, would not say whether the operation in Wana, just across the border from Afghanistan's Paktika province, was launched to capture bin Laden or any other al-Qaida leader.

"This operation is part of our campaign in the war on terror," Sultan said. "So far, no foreigner has been arrested." (To this point, all of the terrorists we have detained are from our own country.)

U.S. officials in Washington, speaking on the condition of anonymity, characterized the offensive as a sweep for militants, rather than an operation specifically targeting bin Laden, Taliban leader Mullah Omar or any other individual leader. Pakistani troops have recently increased operations in the tribal areas along the border, where the central government traditionally has little control. (If the government really cared about keeping their nations affairs in order, they would try to establish a federal government, not go by tradition.) (They don't.) The region is suspected of being a haven for al-Qaida fugitives and fighters of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime.

A Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the offensive was launched after authorities received a tip Monday that 15 to 20 armed men believed to be foreigners were taking refuge in the village of Kalosha, near Wana. The operation follows a bloody series of attacks this week in southern and eastern Afghanistan suspected of being carried out by Taliban and possibly al-Qaida fighters.

After something of a lull during the loya jirga, the recent meeting of the Grand Council, Taliban militants have killed at least 27 people in three days. ( Wouldn't that make a Great Rap song?)

Twelve civilians were executed Tuesday on a remote road in Helmand province, west of Kandahar, Afghan officials charged. On Thursday, two Afghan soldiers were wounded in a bomb blast at a military base in Kandahar.

The latest attacks came two days after a double bomb blast in Kandahar that killed at least 15 people and wounded 55. Several children were among the dead and wounded.