KHAR (Pakistan) - PAKISTANI fighter jets on Sunday attacked suspected Taleban and Al-Qaeda positions in a lawless tribal area on the border with Afghanistan, killing four militants, an official said.

The air strike took place in Mamoond district of the northwest Bajaur tribal agency, where troops have been engaged in fierce fighting with rebels since the launch of a major army operation in August.

'Four militants were killed in an air strike,' local administration official Mohammad Jamil told AFP.

'The militants were busy digging trenches near a roadside when jets targeted them,' he said.

Hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists flooded into Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt from Afghanistan after a US-led invasion toppled the hardline Taliban regime there in late 2001.

Washington and Kabul have accused Islamabad of not doing enough to stop militants crossing the border to attack US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.

Pakistan says the operation in Bajaur is proof that it is committed to tackling insurgents.

The Pakistani military recently said more than 1,500 rebels had been killed and hundreds more captured in Bajaur since August. -- AFP