PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Aug 28 (AFP) - Residents of Pakistan's tribal border belt have warned that US troops risk attack if they launched a hunt in their semi-autonomous tribal region for al-Qaeda fighters.

Speculation that a US military operation was in the offing was sparked by US Central Command chief General Tommy Franks' comments in Afghanistan Sunday that the al-Qaeda hunt needed to be expanded into neighbouring countries.

Hundreds of al-Qaeda fugitives and the network's chief Osama bin Laden are believed by US and Afghan officials to be holed up in Pakistan's remote tribal belt.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has conceded bin Laden could be taking refuge there, though he said he was more likely in Afghanistan.

"The tribal people will resist US troops," said Iqbal Hussain, a merchant in Kurram agency, one of seven agencies that make up the zone where Afridi, Shinwari, Wazir, Malagwi, and Shalmani tribes live under their own laws.

"They will blockade the routes, they may create hindrances in their way, they may attack them with rocket fire, maybe missile fire, and they may carry out hit and run (attacks), hide and seek," he told Nampa-AFP.

"So when you have hide and seek it's like a guerrilla war, hit and run."

Pakistani forces, waging unprecedented operations in the tribal area, have detained "around 400" al-Qaeda fighters fleeing Afghanistan since the US-led coalition began its military campaign to wipe out al-Qaeda and their Taliban hosts in October, according to a military spokesman.

Up to a dozen US intelligence and communications experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been helping the Pakistani forces, but Islamabad and Washington have insisted there are no US combat troops operating on Pakistani soil.

Tribal leaders said Pakistani troops, who had never entered their region until late last year, were welcome, but US troops were not.

"We do not want Americans in our area. The people are against direct operations by Americans," Haji Bazeer, a trader in Miranshah in North Waziristan agency, 170 kilometers (105 miles) south-west of here, told Nampa-AFP.

"Tribals in this area decided in a traditional jirga that if the Pakistan army and paramilitary forces, with the help of tribal elders, launch any search operation the locals will cooperate. But they do not like Americans in their area."

FBI agents stationed in Miranshah earlier this year came under rocket attack five times, though none were hurt.

Mohammad Ali Wazir, a businessman in South Waziristan agency's Wana town, 260 kilometers (160 miles) south-west of Peshawar, predicted "a strong reaction" if US troops went to the tribal area.

"The tribal people here will not like any such operation and they will fight whatever type of fight they can. They have no helicopters or sophisticated arms, but what they can do they will do."

Ikramullah Jan Koki Khel, leader of the Pashtun Youth Movement in Khyber agency, 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) west of Peshawar, said: "It will be very bad for them and for us.

"Because there's no al-Qaeda here, and if they're going to search it will be a big problem for us."

Foreign ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said Monday that US troops were not needed in Pakistan.

"Our armed forces do not need any help from abroad. There is no need except the sharing of intelligence," he told a press briefing when asked about Franks' comments.

"Pakistani forces are fully capable of operating against any eventuality or terrorism or aggression."

The head of the US-led operations in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Dan McNeil, has estimated that up to 1,000 al-Qaeda agents were at large in Pakistan.

Pakistan's military spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi has rejected the figure, saying that the number was "less than a few hundred."

bc/mp Nampa-AFP WEB story ENDS (NAMPA 280857)