Two missiles were fired yesterday at a military checkpost in a remote tribal region in Pakistan where forces are hunting Osama bin Laden but caused no casualties, officials said.

The attack on the checkpost in a village near Wana, capital of the South Waziristan tribal region, came a day after the death of 11 people in what the military called a shootout between the troops and suspected Islamic militants.

The troops opened fire on Saturday on a van they thought to be carrying militants after a military base in the region, close to the Afghan border, came under mortar attack. An intelligence official said those killed may not have been militants but ?terrorists? and the incident was the result of ?mistaken fire?.

Mohammad Azam Khan, top administrative official in South Waziristan, told Reuters that two missiles were fired at a military checkpost in the village of Shulam yesterday morning. Authorities had freed 16 men arrested after Saturday?s incident.

The official APP news agency reported that the government had formed a ?high-powered committee? to probe the 11 deaths, but gave no further details. Analysts say civilian killings will not make the task easier for Pakistani forces hunting al Qaeda militants and their mainly Pashtun Taliban allies who enjoy general sympathy among the Pakistani Pashtun tribes.

Islamic militants thought to be hiding in the border region include bin Laden, the world?s most wanted man, blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001. But US and Pakistani officials on Saturday denied an Iranian state radio report quoting ?an informed source? as saying bin Laden had been captured in the border region.

<B>Hafiz WAZIR</B>