PESHAWAR, July 3: Rocket and automatic gunfire thundered until dawn on Wednesday as police, backed by paramilitary soldiers and armoured personnel carriers, stormed into a remote corner of northwestern Pakistan today to break up a kidnapping ring that has terrorised the area.

Police arrested a dozen gang members at their hideout in the rugged tribal area where tribal elders rule, most people are well armed and the government has only nominal authority. Police officials in the northwestern city of Peshawar, at the foot of the Khyber pass, say the gang is believed to have been behind the kidnapping of over a dozen rich industrialists in the northwest frontier province.

``In the first day of our operation we recovered 11 people, including a newly-wed couple, who had been kidnapped by this gang,'' said Syed Kamal Shah, inspector general for the Khyber agency. Police conducted simultaneous raids on the group's headquarters in Peshawar, said Shah. Those raids turned up 17 kalashnikov rifles, 16 pistols, nine hand grenades and two stolen cars, he said. As part of the sweep through the tribal region to root out crime, Sayed Mohmand Javed, a police officer said police on Tuesday bulldozed and set on fire more than 50 homes and shops of suspected criminals. He said the crackdown will continue in an attempt to curb crime.

Meanwhile, Pakistani police detained dozens of people overnight in a crackdown on religious militants aimed at stemming sectarian violence in Punjab province, police sources said today. Over 40 people were picked up in police raids in the cities of Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Chakwal and Attock.

Police said the operation was directed against suspected militants from majority Sunni and minority Shiite muslims. More than 100 people have been killed over the past six months in Pakistan's largest province in sectarian attacks linked to tensions between militant religious bodies.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.