Pakistan's paramilitary soldiers search a man at a check post in Wana, South Waziristan, Pakistan, March 18, 2004. Thousands of Pakistani army reinforcements were engaged in a round-the-clock offensive in lawless border villages where al Qaeda's No. 2 leader was believed to be surrounded, along with hundreds of other militants hunkered down in heavily armed mud fortresses.
Ayman al-Zawahri, left, holds a press conference with Osama bin Laden in this 1998 photo taken in Khost, Afghanistan. Pakistani forces believed they had cornered and perhaps wounded al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, in a major battle near the Afghan border.
Soldiers of Pakistan's paramilitary force take positions outside Wana, the capital of a Pakistani tribal area in South Waziristan, the scene of a battle between Pakistan's army and fujitive al Qaeda terrorists, March 19, 2004.
A coffin containing the body of Pakistan army Maj. Abdul Waheed is carried in his native graveyard in Jahanian, March 19, 2004. He was killed earlier in the week during military operations against suspected al Qaeda operatives in the town of Wana.
A satellite image of the Kaloosha village in Pakistan's tribal South Waziristan region. The Pakistani army believes a mix of foreigners and local Pakistani tribesmen were holed up in several villages in South Waziristan, where Pakistani paramilitary forces began an operation against al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives March 15, 2004.
A satellite image of the Shin Warsak village in Pakistan's tribal South Waziristan region. Villagers said helicopter gunships had fired rockets at houses there.
Pakistani protesters in Multan, Pakistan, burn a U.S. flag during a demonstration against Pakistani military operations on suspected al Qaeda militants, March 19, 2004.
Wana villagers Hassena, top, and Hasbeena stand in a hospital, March 19, 2004. The sisters were injured by shelling during a battle between the Pakistani army and al Qaeda fugitives.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, left, meets Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, March 18, 2004. Powell announced that Washington was bestowing the status of "major non-NATO ally" on Pakistan, and praised the country for its help in the war on terror.
University students hold a rally to protest against the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, March 17, 2004, in Lahore, Pakistan.
Pakistani paramilitary soldiers stand alert near a checkpoint in Wana, South Waziristan, Pakistan, March 16, 2004.
Tribal elders chant anti-U.S. slogans to condemn ongoing operations against al Qaeda militants in Pakistani tribal areas situated along the Afghanistan border, during a Jirga or grand meeting in Bara, Pakistan, March 14, 2004. Tribal elders have rejected the allegations of sheltering terrorists and demanded early return of forces to their barracks.
An Afghan border patrol soldier gestures as he stands among the graves of some of the Taliban he has killed during operations, March, 11, 2004, in Spinboldak, on the Afghan-Pakistan border. The Taliban had stepped up their attacks in southern Afghanistan in recent weeks, killing a Turkish engineer, the head of the Afghan Red Crescent Society and several Afghan security guards.
Afghan soldiers stand at attention during a ceremony marking the completion of their 12-week training course, March 18, 2004 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The next day, U.S. and Afghan troops captured "semi-senior" terrorist leaders as they tightened security along the rugged frontier, according to a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell speaks at a news conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, flanked by an Afghan soldier and members of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's American security force, March 17, 2004. Powell praised what he said were Pakistan's recent efforts to root out Taliban or al Qaeda fighters believed to be hiding in the mountainous border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.