WANA, Oct 21: The government on Thursday warned local and foreign militants in the besieged Spinkay Raghzay area in South Waziristan tribal region to surrender or face a full-scale assault.

No significant engagements occurred on Thursday as over 2,000 soldiers encircling the area tightened the cordon.

The administration sent in a jirga of tribal elders into the besieged area to persuade militants to surrender peacefully.

"They have been given three options, surrender peacefully, or identify militants and show us where they are or face a full-scale assault," a senior security official said.

The jirga, however, returned later in the afternoon without scoring any success.

The elders have sought more time to convince the militants holed up in the area and the government appeared inclined to grant more time to these efforts.

"It is better to wait and resolve this issue peacefully than to cause more bloodshed and killings," an official told Dawn.

A general calm prevailed in the area after overnight clashes between security forces and the militants left one soldier dead and three others wounded.

The fighting has so far claimed the lives of six soldiers in three days.

Officials said that a militant was also killed in the clash while two others were captured alive.

They said that Abdullah Mehsud, who had masterminded the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers on Oct 9, was not in the area.

"Spinkay Raghzay was used as a transit point by militants to cross over into different parts of the tribal region and Abdullah though used this as a route, he is not present there at the moment," the official said.

He did not know the exact number of foreign or local militants holed up in Spinkay who, he added, were determined to put up a fight and die rather than surrender, but said that their number could be significant.

Eight gunship helicopters are on standby in Jandola, adjacent to Tank district.

Officials said that army troops had entered a small bazaar in the Spinkay Raghzay and secured nearby hilltops in the area.

Residents also reported fierce gunbattle between security forces and militants in the Mandana and Qalqala areas while people were seen leaving the area in large numbers.

Militants, meanwhile, fired three missiles on a paramilitary camp in Wana on Wednesday night.

Authorities said that a missile hit a barrack inside the camp, but did not cause casualty. Skirmishes have been reported from the Kaniguram and Karwan Manza areas.