Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistani troops repelled an attack by insurgents early today on a fort in the South Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan, the military said. Five soldiers were killed in the fighting.

``Security forces retaliated with fire causing heavy casualties'' on militants at the Ladha Fort, the military said in a statement. It didn't say how many insurgents were killed.

Pakistan's military is battling Islamic extremists along the border with Afghanistan, where U.S. intelligence agencies say al-Qaeda has rebuilt bases. President Pervez Musharraf has ruled out letting U.S. troops into his nation's tribal areas to fight terrorists.

Pakistani soldiers yesterday arrested 35 pro-Taliban militants in the Swat Valley region, the military said. Among those detained was an aide of Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric seeking to impose Islamic law in the region.

The aide, Moulvi Habib, supported suicide attacks and a decree by Fazlullah ordering the beheading of government officials, according to the statement. Weapons and ammunition were also seized in the raid in the Chuprial area of the valley, a once popular tourist destination about 250 kilometers (150 miles) from the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistani officials said last week that soldiers had driven militants from the Swat Valley after a three-month operation.

Pakistan has al-Qaeda ``on the run,'' Musharraf said yesterday in Brussels, at the start of an eight-day European tour to repair Pakistan's battered image.

U.S. Forces

He rejected what he said was media-driven talk of allowing U.S. troops and NATO's International Security Assistance Force into Pakistan to fight insurgents.

``Nobody should violate our sovereignty,'' the president said. ``Let us handle the situation on our side of the border and let ISAF and U.S. forces operate in Afghanistan, in cooperation with each other.''

Musharraf met yesterday with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and discussed the campaign against terrorism.

NATO commands a force of 41,000 soldiers fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. The alliance has previously criticized Musharraf for failing to shut down terrorist training camps on Pakistani territory and stop insurgents crossing the mountainous border.

The Pakistani leader is ``part of the solution and certainly not part of the problem,'' Agence France-Presse cited the NATO chief as saying. ``We are fighting the same terrorists that are trying to destabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan.''

The president said last month he has deployed more than 100,000 soldiers in the tribal regions to combat Taliban and al- Qaeda fighters.

Pakistan's death toll from terrorist attacks and sectarian violence more than doubled last year to 2,116 from 967 in 2006, the Interior Ministry says.

To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad kqayum@bloomberg.net; Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 22, 2008 02:39 EST