The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is using a range of intelligence and surveillance systems to detect the rebels to thwart attacks along the eastern frontier, an ISAF spokesman told AFP.

"There is already a good ISAF presence along the border," General Carlos Branco told AFP, adding that the number of troops may have increased but this was not a dramatic rise or necessarily related to the steady increase in rebel activity.

"The border in Regional Command East is crossed daily by families whose members live in both sides," Branco said, referring to several eastern provinces where the insurgency is intense.

"The insurgents use these movements to disguise their activities and intentions.

"But to track their activity, ISAF has a wide range of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems available." he added.

NATO said in Brussels last week the level of attacks in Afghanistan from Pakistan -- where militants have bases -- was up in April by about 52 percent compared with the same period last year.

It urged Pakistan to improve security on the border, where Islamabad says it already has tens of thousands of troops stationed.

Pakistan's new government has also launched negotiations with Taliban militants based in its tribal belt along the border, a move that worries Afghan officials after a 2006 deal in Pakistan saw a spike in attacks in eastern Afghanistan.

Authorities meanwhile said a Pakistani national planning a suicide bombing was captured in the eastern province of Khost on Monday.

"A Pakistani national who was intending a suicide bombing was captured today in Khost," the interior ministry said in a statement. Two suicide vests the man was carrying were also seized, it said in a statement.

The Taliban, ousted from power in Afghanistan in late 2001 for harbouring Osama bin Laden, have been using Pakistan's lawless tribal belt to stage attacks in Afghanistan.

NATO has about 47,000 troops in the ISAF in Afghanistan, with the aim of spreading the rule of the central government and fostering reconstruction in the conflict-torn country.

earlier related report
Pakistani Taliban claim responsibility for suicide attack
Pakistani Taliban militants on Monday said a weekend suicide attack that killed 13 people was carried out in revenge for a suspected US missile strike on a rebel hideout.

The suicide bomber struck near an army base in the northwestern city of Mardan on Sunday night, in the deadliest attack since a new government came to power in late March and began talks with the militants.

"Our local Taliban leaders in Mardan have telephoned us and claimed responsibility for the attack," Maulvi Omar, the spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban Movement), told AFP.

"The Mardan attack was in reaction to Damadola," he said, referring to a missile strike last week that killed 14 people in the town of Damadola in Pakistan's tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

The Pakistani military has accused US-led coalition forces based in Afghanistan of launching the missile from a pilotless drone and lodged a complaint over the violation of its territorial sovereignty.

Pakistan's new government launched negotiations with Taliban militants based in the tribal belt after defeating US-backed President Pervez Musharraf's political allies in February general elections.

The talks have led to a marked drop in suicide attacks in nuclear-armed Pakistan, although the United States has expressed concern, saying that any deal could let the rebels regroup.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said his government would not negotiate with militants unless they laid down their arms, a day after meeting US President George W. Bush for the first time.

"One thing should be clear," Gilani told journalists at the World Economic Forum for the Middle East. "We will not have a dialogue with militants, we will not have dialogue with extremists or terrorists."

"We only have dialogue with those forces, these tribals, who decommission themselves," Gilani said while on his first overseas trip since civilian leadership took over.

"If they lay down their arms then they are in the mainstream with us."

Taliban spokesman Omar however said negotiations between the government and the militants were in their "final stage and we hope for a positive outcome" -- but warned against following US policies.

"Our men are greatly angered by the killing of innocent people in the Damadola attack and we want the government to take practical steps to stop American intervention in Pakistani areas," Omar said.

"The government should refrain from following Washington's policy and imposing their war on us."

Omar also condemned Pakistani authorities for allegedly demolishing the houses of local Taliban in Darra Adam Khel, a tribal area near the northwestern city of Peshawar.

"Incidents like the missile strike in Damadola and ongoing action in Darra Adam Khel against our men would trigger a serious reaction from local Taliban inside Pakistan," he said.

Islamabad has fought a bloody campaign against pro-Taliban rebels and their Al-Qaeda allies since US-led forces ousted Afghanistan's hardline Taliban government in late 2001.

The violence soared last year, with more than 1,000 people dying in suicide attacks in Pakistan since the start of 2007, including opposition leader and former premier Benazir Bhutto.

Officials said last week that Pakistan had moved its troops away from villages and towns in the tribal zone as the peace talks progressed, while the militants freed Islamabad's kidnapped ambassador to Kabul.

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