CHAGMALAI, Pakistan – Pakistani special forces attacked kidnappers holding two Chinese engineers near the Afghan border yesterday, killing all five of the Al Qaeda-linked terrorists, who were followers of a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner. One of the hostages was killed in the raid, while the other survived.

Security forces later launched a manhunt for the terrorists’ leader, Abdullah Mehsud, who was believed to be hiding in mountains while his men held the hostages for six days in the nearby village of Chagmalai, officials said.

“The masterminds behind this terrorist action will be pursued relentlessly and meted out the most severe punishment,” President General Pervez Musharraf said. Commandos raided a house where the kidnappers were holding the hostages after shots were heard coming from inside, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

“This raised fears that the kidnappers had started violence against the Chinese,” he said. “The security forces then stormed and killed all five kidnappers and freed the Chinese.”

However, resident Abid Mehsud said that dozens of special forces soldiers, disguised as local tribesmen, surrounded the mud-brick house and opened fire when three of the kidnappers came outside to talk on a two-way radio. One Chinese hostage then fled to safety. The other was killed after the remaining two kidnappers dragged him out of the tear-gas filled house and into a hail of bullets from the commandos, Mr. Mehsud said. It was the kidnappers who shot the Chinese hostage as they were being gunned down by the commandos, he added.