On Monday, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told a news conference that intelligence sources indicated that the al-Qaida intelligence chief, whom he named only as Abdullah, had been killed.

Another member of the Pakistani intelligence community said the military was showing photos of Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah - who is on the FBI's Most Wanted List - to captured militants, but none had identified the photo.

On Tuesday, Sultan said the man apparently killed in South Waziristan was far less senior.

"Now I can confirm that he was only the head of al-Qaida's intelligence in Wana," the main town in South Waziristan, said Sultan. He blamed the mistake on faulty initial intelligence.

Shortly after the siege began March 16, President Gen. Perez Musharraf claimed in a television interview that his men had cornered a "high-value" al-Qaida target, and several senior Pakistani officials said they believed it to be bin Laden's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Authorities later backed off those claims, saying instead that they had wounded an Uzbek militant with al-Qaida links named Tahir Yuldash. They say they believe Yuldash escaped, possibly through a mile-long tunnel leading out of the battle zone.

There were conflicting accounts among Pakistani intelligence and government officials about whether Abdullah's body had been recovered. Sultan would give no details.

Meanwhile, authorities found the bodies of two Pakistani government officials dumped in a well after they were abducted two weeks ago at the start of the operation - the largest ever Pakistani sweep for al-Qaida fugitives - that wound up Sunday.

Tribesmen in the Kaloosha area of South Waziristan found the bodies of Mati Ullah and Ameer Nawaz late Monday, bringing the government and military death toll in the operation to at least 48.

The officials were captured by militants in a botched initial assault on March 16 when paramilitary forces raided homes in Kaloosha and met with stiff resistance.

A government official in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, said the officials' bodies were found in a well. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Probably they were murdered several days ago," said Brig. Mahmood Shah, chief of security for Pakistan's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

The top government official in South Waziristan, Mohammed Azam Khan, warned Zalikhel tribesmen to surrender those involved in killing the two security officials.

He said the tribesmen have 10 days to hand in the suspects or face demolition of their homes or confiscation of their property. In an interview with Pakistan's Geo television, Khan said Zalikhel tribesmen had allegedly acknowledged kidnapping the officials.

Twelve abducted paramilitary soldiers were freed Sunday when the military pulled out thousands of forces after negotiations conducted by tribal elders.

The military declared the operation a success, claiming it had killed 63 foreign and local militants. Hundreds of militants remain at large.

Sultan and Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat briefed parliamentarians on the operation Tuesday, reiterating a government offer to grant amnesty to any terrorists who surrender. None have taken up the offer.

Pakistani forces arrested 167 people in the operation, including 73 foreigners. Security officials have said Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs were among them.

The two-week operation was the largest since Musharraf, a key U.S. ally, sent 70,000 troops to the border with Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks to prevent cross-border assaults.

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