FACTBOX - Pakistan's tribal areas and militants

REUTERS - Northwestern Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun lands are home to militants bent on bringing hardline Islamic rule to Pakistan, defeating Western forces in Afghanistan and launching attacks in Western countries.

Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and his number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding in the region.

Here are some details about the Pashtun tribal areas.

THE TRIBAL AREAS

* The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) cover about 27,220 sq km of mountainous territory and are home to about 6 million people, most of them Pashtun. They border Afghanistan and Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where militancy is spreading.

* The seven agencies that make up the FATA are Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, Mohmand, Bajaur, North Waziristan and South Waziristan. Many residents sympathise with the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, their fellow Pashtuns.

* The area is awash with weapons. Few of Pakistan's federal laws apply and outside interference is resented. Under a system inherited from colonial Britain, a government "political agent" administers through tribal elders who are meant to maintain peace and keep open roads such as the Khyber Pass, a vital supply route for Western forces in Afghanistan.

THE MILITANTS