As the death toll for international troops in Afghanistan this year hit a record of 701, and amid growing US frustration with Islamabad's efforts to remove militants from strongholds in Pakistan, officials are proposing to escalate military activities in the nuclear-armed nation, The New York Times reported yesterday.

Pakistan yesterday successfully test-fired a ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads 1300km, the military said.

US forces have been limited to covert operations and drone strikes in Pakistan, where the US alliance provokes anger. Islamabad has described American boots on the ground as a "red line".

The story was denied by a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, who last night said there was "absolutely no truth" to the claim that ground operations into Pakistan were planned. "ISAF and US forces, along with their Afghan partners, have developed a strong working relationship with the Pakistan military to address shared security issues," said Rear Admiral Gregory Smith.

Even limited operations have provoked angry public reactions from Pakistani officials, although US cables recently released by WikiLeaks suggest the political and military leadership quietly approved the activities.

The US refuses to confirm drone attacks, but its military and the CIA are the only forces that deploy the aircraft in the region.

With Washington keen to start withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan next July, military and political leaders point to a renewed sense of urgency.

Dissatisfied with the inadequate efforts from Pakistan to root out militants from inside its territory, the US is pushing for an expanded campaign of ground raids across the border inside the country. "The proposal, described by American officials in Washington and Afghanistan, would escalate

military activities inside Pakistan, where the movement of American forces has been largely prohibited because of fears of provoking a backlash," The New York Times said in a report on Monday.

It was quick to add though that the plan has not been approved and is still under consideration.

Top US military officers, The Times said, are now convinced that there needs to be a shift in its policy about forays across the border, knowing very well that the half a dozen such attempts so far have infuriated Pakistani officials.

US President Barack Obama, announcing the result of the annual review of his Af-Pak policy, had clearly said that Pakistan needs to do more in the war against terrorism especially against the safe havens inside the country.

NATO denies having plans for raids inside Pakistan

A communications officer denies a report that the U.S. will send American special forces into Pakistan's tribal areas.

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan —

The NATO force inAfghanistan denied Tuesday that the U.S. military intends to carry out ground raids inside Pakistan in pursuit of insurgent leaders hiding there.

The sharply worded statement underscored the extreme sensitivities surrounding the subject of militant sanctuaries in Pakistan, which were identified last week in a White Houseassessment of the Afghan conflict as a key impediment to subduing the Taliban and other insurgent groups.

In recent years, the U.S. military has carried out a small number of incursions into Pakistan, most of them by air. These raids generally trigger public denunciations by Pakistan, although its government is widely believed to have tacitly approved the drone strikes.