Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi: "Our strategy is that the military option alone is not enough. This war has to be fought besides the armies, with the help of the people, by winning hearts and minds."

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Pakistan warns its cross-border militants Nearly three dozen militants killed in Afghanistan

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A militant ambush and subsequent shootout Saturday killed at least six security personnel and three insurgents in Pakistan's northwest, police said.

Saturday's clash also came as Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Pakistan on a surprise, one-day trip. U.S. Embassy officials confirmed the visit but said they had no details on Mullen's itinerary.

The United States considers Pakistan's cooperation critical to success in its war on terrorism, but U.S. officials have voiced concern about the new Pakistani government's efforts to strike peace deals with some militant groups.

Mullen recently said militants are flowing into neighboring Afghanistan more freely this year compared with last year because Pakistan's government and military are not putting enough pressure on insurgents.

During his stop in Pakistan, which lasted less than a day, Mullen met President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, National Security Adviser Mehmood Ali Durrani, and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, said Mullen's spokesman, Capt. John Kirby.

Mullen discussed an array of security issues, in particular his growing concern over the surge of insurgents across the border with Afghanistan, he said.

Kirby said Pakistan's leadership is "working to address those challenges."

Pakistan's top diplomat said Saturday there are no U.S. or other foreign military personnel on the hunt for Osama bin Laden in his nation, and none will be allowed in to search for the al-Qaida leader.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said his nation's new government has ruled out such military operations, covert or otherwise, to catch militants.

"Our government's policy is that our troops, paramilitary forces and our regular forces are deployed in sufficient numbers. They are capable of taking action there. And any foreign intrusion would be counterproductive," he said Saturday. "People will not accept it. Questions of sovereignty come in."

The United States has grown increasingly frustrated as al-Qaida, the Taliban and other militants thrive in Pakistan's remote areas and in neighboring Afghanistan, and has offered U.S. troops to strike at terror networks. Critics in Washington also have expressed frustration with the new Pakistani government's pursuit of peace deals with tribes in the region. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in the Afghan-Pakistani border region.

Qureshi acknowledged Saturday that "there are some infiltrations" still occurring, but there are no covert U.S. military operations trying to catch al-Qaida figures and its chief, Taliban members or any other militants.

"There are none," he said. "It will create such an anti-U.S. feeling in Pakistan that I would say would mar the atmosphere of cooperation that exists between us."

Qureshi described Pakistan's counterterrorism as a "grass-roots" approach.

"Our strategy is that the military option alone is not enough," he said. "This war has to be fought besides the armies, with the help of the people, by winning hearts and minds."

Does he believe bin Laden is in Pakistan?

"I don't think so. I'm not sure," he said. "Nobody's aware of that. Nobody can speak with certainty. But our policy's very clear. We are allies in this war. And if Pakistan has actionable information vis-a-vis Osama bin Laden or any other high value target, Pakistan will immediately take action."

Violence on Afghanistan border

A recent border clash that wounded several Pakistani and Afghan security personnel was sparked by insurgents in Afghanistan who fired at targets in both countries, apparently to stoke cross-border tensions, NATO said Saturday.

The alliance said it responded to the Thursday evening assault with artillery and a bomb, and had verified that its rounds had struck insurgent positions inside Afghanistan.

But the incident prompted Pakistan to protest to NATO. On Saturday, Pakistan's army spokesman stuck to earlier statements implying that foreign or Afghan forces fired mortar rounds he said wounded eight Pakistani security personnel and two civilians.

The clash came amid already high tensions between the neighboring nations, whose border areas have often been the scene of skirmishes between security forces as well as with militants. It also occurred about a month after a high-profile border incident in which Pakistan said 11 of its soldiers died when U.S. aircraft bombed their post.

A NATO official said the alliance suspects insurgents deliberately tried to spark tension by aiming at targets on both sides of the long, poorly demarcated border.