Pakistani mercenaries, led by militant Abdul Jabbar, along with others from the Arab world are taking part in the rebellion in the north Caucasus region, Voice of Russia quoted a highly-placed source in Dagestani Security Services as saying.

The source, the Voice of Russia said, has expressed willingness to document the involvement of Pakistanis in the Caucasian crisis.

But Independent Russian daily Segodnya has directly blamed Islamabad for abetting crisis in Dagestan by extending financial aid to the Chechen rebels.

The instigation was part of Pakistan's attempt to take control of an oil pipeline between Azerbaijan and Turkey, it said.

Moscow claimed one thousand militants have been killed in the two-week fighting in Dagestan and said it lost 19soldiers.

"The situation (in Dagestan) is very much similar to what India faced in the Kargil sector of Kashmir," say Russia's news analysts.

President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have already decided to restore order in the volatile region, but Kremlin sources have given no indication so far about setting a deadline to its military action.

Meanwhile, Russian and US experts continued discussion on Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) on Wednesday in Moscow "in a constructive atmosphere", the news agency Interfax said, citing Foreign Ministry sources.

Topics include a time-table for long-term negotiations on a third Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START III), the year-2000 computer problem and a US bid to modify the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972 which restricts limits missile defence systems.

The Moscow talks are scheduled to continue on Thursday as well and are due to continue next month in Washington at a conference of the Russian-American Commission onStrategic Stability.

The results will be later discussed by Foreign Minister Igorivanov and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Under START II which was signed in 1993 the number of warheads was limited to between 3,000 and 3,500 each. The Russian Parliament has, however, so far failed to ratify the agreement, which the US did in 1996.

The US delegation is led by under Secretary of State Johnholum. The US seeks to reassure the Russians that a blueprinted new US weapons system is not a threat to their country.

Moscow says the proposed US anti-missile system would contravene the 1972 ABM treaty.

Washington says the proposed system of interceptor missiles is designed to protect troops from potential attack from Iraq or North Korea.