Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf promised on Sunday to fight Uzbek terrorists hiding in his country.

"We know that Pakistan in the past and even now has some Uzbek terrorists in its area, and I have assured the president that we will act against them," said Musharraf after signing a cooperation treaty here on fighting international terrorism with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov.

He said both Pakistan and Uzbekistan had been victims of terrorism.

More than 50 people were killed in suicide attacks in Uzbekistan last year that authorities blamed on radical Islamic groups based in Pakistan.

Musharraf also expressed interest in joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security group, which comprises China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The two leaders also held talks on boosting diplomatic, political and economic relations between the two countries.

Musharraf is scheduled to visit the Uzbek city of Samarkand on Monday and will leave for Kyrgyzstan the same day, the last leg of his four-day official tour in Central Asia.

It is the first visit by a Pakistani head of the state to the two central Asian republics in almost a decade.

Source: Xinhua