Islamabad - Pakistani security forces recently missed a chance to capture al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, an official said Tuesday.

Rehman Malik, security advisor to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, said Zawahiri's wife was once located in Mohmand tribal direct but the couple was not found when troops raided the place.

"We certainly had traced him at one place, but we missed the chance. So he is moving in Mohmand and, of course, sometimes in Kunar, mostly in Kunar and Paktia
(provinces of Afghanistan)," Malik was quoted as saying by the English-language Dawn newspaper.

He did not specify when the incident took place.

Malik's claim has raised some questions as in the past some media reports suggested that Zawahiri's wife, Azza, and three daughters were killed in a bomb strike on Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, in December 2001, days after US-led forces invaded the country following al-Qaeda's attacks in United States.

Malik did not explain if he was talking about Zawahiri's wife Azza, or some other woman he has married recently.

Egyptian al-Zawahiri is under indictment in the United States for his role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. The United States is offering a reward of up to 25 million dollars for information about his whereabouts.

Pakistan's top security official, Malik, also said the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organization for several militants groups, was "an extension of al-Qaeda".

TTP is based in North-Western Frontier Province and Pakistan's tribal region, a known sanctuary of al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters launching cross-border raids on US-led forces in Afghanistan.

"We have no doubt in our minds now that al-Qaeda and the Tehrik-e-Taliban are one and the same thing. The nexus between the TTP and al-Qaeda is there and their activities are continuing," Malik said.

Pakistani troops have in recent weeks conducted a major security operation against the pro-Taliban militants in Bajaur agency, which adjoins Mohmand tribal district.

According to official figures, more than 560 militants have been killed in the action. But the operation was halted after lawmakers from the tribal belt threatened to withdraw their support for Asif Ali Zardari in presidential elections to be held on September 6.

Zardari, widower of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is the nominee of the Pakistan Peoples Party that leads the government. (dpa)