'Raid on al Qaeda camp kills 55'
Uzbeks and Arabs said to be at 'training facility'
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Pakistan air force has bombed an al Qaeda training camp in the country's tribal region along the border with Afghanistan, killing at least 55 people, government and military officials said.
Military officials said the two-hour-long assault, which began at 6 a.m. Thursday in the South Waziristan city of Khonkhila, included air force planes, artillery and missiles.
Arabs and Chechens were among those at the camp, officials said.
U.S. officials said the airstrikes wiped out a "terrorist training camp" and most of those killed are believed to have been Uzbek fighters. The officials said they do not believe any "big name" al Qaeda figures were present at the camp.
One official described the raid as part of "ongoing Pakistani operations."
Local tribal officials disputed the military's claim that the strike was on an al Qaeda training camp and said several tribal members were killed in the assault.
The strike was the latest move in Pakistan's effort to find and destroy suspected al Qaeda strongholds.
For months, Pakistani soldiers have been scouring the rugged northwest border region for renegade Taliban and al Qaeda members suspected to be hiding there.
U.S. officials have long said they believe al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are hiding in the remote mountain region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has admitted the region is a hotbed of terrorism and said he will not back down from the fight to root them out.
Waziristan is a mountainous region about 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Islamabad.
National Security Correspondent David Ensor and Producer Syed Mohsin Naqvi contributed to this report
