ISLAMABAD -- Ten Pakistani soldiers and at least two Chechen Al-Qaeda "terrorists" were killed in a raid on hideouts in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, officials and witnesses said Wednesday.

The Pakistan security forces raid was carried out in the mountainous Wana district "where a group of Al-Qaeda operatives were located in some houses, close to the civilian population," a military statement said.

"Ten members of our law enforcement agencies were killed during an exchange of fire" in the raid late Tuesday, Brigadier Javed Cheema, head of the Interior Ministry's National Crisis Cell, told AFP.

"A number of Al-Qaeda terrorists were also killed," the military statement added.

Local residents and one eyewitness, who gave his name as Ali, told AFP that two Chechen Al-Qaeda fighters were killed in the raid in the village of Azam Warsak, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the border.

Several fugitives were injured and captured while an unspecified number had escaped and were being pursued by Pakistani troops, top military spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi told AFP.

At least one of those captured was a Chechen national, Cheema said.

"The operation we began late last night is still going on ... we are still hunting down the others," Qureshi said.

A security source told AFP that U.S. forces accompanied their Pakistani counterparts on the raid, and were evacuated by helicopter when the clash broke out.

Ali said he saw five U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents take part in the raid.

However, Qureshi and Cheema denied any U.S. forces were present, and said helicopters were sent in to beef up the operation.

"The U.S. forces do not take part in operations," Qureshi said, repeating Pakistani officials' earlier statements that U.S. agents only provide Pakistani forces with intelligence.

"When Pakistani troops surrounded the area they encountered resistance, leading to fierce exchange of fire," another senior Interior Ministry officials said on condition of anonymity.

U.S. and Pakistani agents have been jointly hunting Al-Qaeda and Taleban fugitives in western Pakistan's tribal belt, where they are believed to have fled from the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan.