 A raid by a US drone in northwest Pakistan has killed at least 12 suspected opposition fighters, Pakistani officials have said. The attack took place on Sunday in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan, close to the Afghanistan border. "The target was a militant compound," a senior military official said of the raid, which occurred about 40km southeast of Miranshah, the primary town in North Waziristan. Another official added: "The drones are apparently tracking and targeting Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, whose presence is frequently reported in the area." Conflicting reports have emerged over the past few days of Mehsud's death. On Saturday, the Pakistani Taliban released an audio recording in which a voice purporting to be that of Mehsud said that he had not been killed in a US bomb attack last Thursday. About 40 opposition fighters are said to have been killed by drone strikes since last Thursday, as Washington steps up its campaign to counter the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan. The latest attack is the 10th US drone strike this year. The use of the pilotless aircraft has been criticised by Pakistani officials for causing civilian casualties, as well as for breaching the country's sovereignty. Barack Obama, the US president, has put Pakistan at the centre of his policy to target the Taliban and al-Qaeda, seeing lawless tribal areas of western Pakistan as a safe haven for such fighters. Al Jazeera 
 - The Code Pink organization has placed ads on the Muslim Brotherhood’s website, including one that asks readers to “join us in cleansing our country.”
- An Al-Qaeda bodyguard killed by a U.S. drone attack in North Waziristan is the son of a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood’s branch in Jordan.
- The new Secretary-General of the Islamic Society of North America has a history of involvement with other Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organizations.
- Seven senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan have been charged with corruption over their management of Islamic charities.
 AL-QAEDA said the suicide bombing at a US base in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA agents was "revenge" for the deaths of top militants in US drone strikes in Pakistan. A Jordanian identified as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who was said to be a triple agent, blew himself up at the base in Khost on December 30 in the deadliest attack against the CIA since 1983. The head of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, said the bomber wrote in his will that the attack was revenge for "our righteous martyrs" and named a number of top militants killed in US drone attacks, US monitoring group SITE reported. These included Baitullah Mehsud, (pictured) the leader of Pakistan's Taliban blamed for a wave of deadly attacks including the killing of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. Mehsud was killed when a US missile slammed into his father-in-law's house in August last year. The al-Qaeda statement surfaced after another round of US drone strikes left 11 militants dead near Pakistan's Afghan border yesterday. Attacks by unmanned US spy planes have soared in the past year, with Washington determined to wipe out militant sanctuaries while the extremists have vowed fierce retaliation. The Australian
 A SUICIDE car bomber has killed at least 88 people in a crowd attending a volleyball game in a northwest Pakistan village in the deadliest strike in more than two months. A man detonated his vehicle, which was packed with explosives, as fans gathered at a field to watch two local teams face off at a volleyball tournament in the village of Shah Hasan Khan, in Bannu district, which borders the Taliban stronghold South Waziristan. Britain immediately condemned the attack as "horrific" and vowed to work with Islamabad to tackle the threat posed by violent extremism. The latest bombing marked a bloody start to 2010 for Pakistan, which has seen a surge in attacks blamed on the Taliban in recent months as Islamist fighters avenge military operations aimed at crushing their northwest strongholds. "The villagers were watching the match between the two village teams when the bomber rashly drove his double-cabin pick-up vehicle into them and blew it up," district police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan told AFP. Six children and five paramilitary soldiers were among the dead, he added. Khan said that more than 20 houses on both sides of the open ground where the match was being played had collapsed, some with families inside. The tournament was organised by the local peace committee, who had supported a government operation to expel militants from the area, Khan said. It was the highest death toll from a suspected militant strike since a massive car bomb on October 28 killed 125 people in a crowded market in the northwestern provincial capital Peshawar. Ramzan Bittani, a 33-year-old driver, told AFP by telephone from a local hospital that he had left the match to take a call. "As I was listening, I saw a huge blue and white spark followed by an ear-piercing blast. When I was able to figure out what had happened, I saw bodies and smoke all around. My hand was fractured," he said. Anwer Khan, 18, a student, said that he had just stepped out of his house and he saw a black pick-up speeding up towards the spectators. "A giant flame leaped towards the sky. There was bright light everywhere, just like a flash, and then a very huge blast shook everything. Two pellets hit my forehead and blood started flowing," Khan said. District police chief Khan blamed the bomb on Islamist extremists who were the target of a military operation in Bannu district last year. Security has plummeted over the last two-and-a-half years in Pakistan, where militant violence has killed more than 2,800 people since July 2007. The northwest has suffered the brunt of the militant campaign, with suicide bombings increasingly targeting civilians. The military is now locked in its most ambitious assault yet on Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan, sending 30,000 troops into battle in the district on the Afghan border on October 17. Washington, however, is urging Pakistan to do more to also stamp out al-Qaeda sanctuaries and dismantle havens of militants who cross the border and attack US and NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan. On Friday in North Waziristan district, missiles fired from a US drone air craft killed three suspected militants 15 kilometres east of Miranshah, the main district town close to the Afghan border. "A US drone fired two missiles, targeting a vehicle and killing three militants," a senior security official in the area told AFP. The official requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the US strikes in Pakistan, which have killed at least 662 people since August 2008 and greatly inflame anti-American sentiment in the Muslim nation. A separate, earlier US drone attack killed four militants in Machikhel village, about 25 kilometres east of Miranshah. Also on Friday, an anti-Taliban tribal leader and four others were killed in a roadside bomb in Bajaur tribal district, the latest in a wave of attacks against respected elders allied with the government against the extremists. The Australian
 By Bill Roggio Pakistani commandos killed four al Qaeda operatives and detained 27 suspects during a raid on a hospital in a region in South Waziristan under the control of a Taliban leader considered friendly to the government. Pakistani troops surrounded the Hafiz Hospital in Wana, the administrative center of South Waziristan, and killed three “Arabs” and a Sudanese al Qaeda operative.
The Hafiz Hospital is run by a former member of Pakistan’s national assembly. "Commandos and security forces raided the hospital,” a Pakistani security official told Dawn. “Militants fired on the troops and in the gunfight, which lasted more than four hours, four militants and a woman were killed, while 27 others were arrested. One soldier was also injured. The three dead militants appear to be Arabs and one of Sudanese origin.” Pakistani troops raided the hospital after receiving intelligence that the fighters sought treatment from wounds suffered during fighting in the Sherwangi region in the Mehsud tribal areas, where the military is conducting an operation against the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. The Wana region is run by Taliban commander Mullah Nazir. Nazir is not a member of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan; he and other Taliban commanders operate independently of that group. Pakistan's military and intelligence services consider Nazir and his followers "good Taliban" as they do not openly seek the overthrow of the Pakistani state.
However, Nazir openly supports Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden, and wages jihad in Afghanistan. More senior al Qaeda leaders have been killed in Nazir's tribal areas during the US air campaign than in those of any other Taliban leader in Pakistan. Nazir’s forces continue to operate across the border in Afghanistan. On Dec. 6, his fighters crossed the border and destroyed an Afghan Army outpost. Earlier this year, just prior to launching a military operation against the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Mehsud tribal areas in South Waziristan, the military agreed to a peace deal with Nazir as well as with North Waziristan Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar. Nazir and Bahadar are not members of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Bahadar and the Haqqani Network, which is also based in North Waziristan, are also considered "good" Taliban by the Pakistani government and military. The peace agreement calls for the Pakistani military to be able to move through Nazir and Bahadar's tribal areas without being attacked. Another condition of the agreement prohibits Bahadar and Nazir from providing shelter to fleeing members of the Mehsud branch of the Taliban. But Taliban fighters from the Mehsud tribal areas have sought shelter with Mullah Nazir in the Wazir tribal areas, and the rearguard fighters still opposing the Army's advance are receiving support from Nazir's forces, US military and intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal. Bahadar and the Haqqanis are also providing shelter to fleeing Taliban fighters and covert support to the Mehsud Taliban, and they also shelter al Qaeda leaders and fighters.
 The Haqqani network in Pakistan which is allied with the Taliban is a central part of the insurgent network. The Pakistani military offensives in Swat and South Waziristan seemed to indicate, for a moment at least, that the Pakistanis were serious about going after Taliban and Al-Qaeda-type elements. Remarkably, despite the fact that these forces have savagely attacked Pakistanis time and time again, the government is resisting American demands for the Haqqani network to be tackled. The excuse is that Haqqani is based in North Waziristan and the military cannot be stretched any further.
The U.S. will probably react to this by giving the CIA greater freedom in using its drones in North Waziristan to try to kill Haqqani and his top commanders.
The Pakistanis will protest and will face unrest as anti-American sentiment rises, at which point the U.S. can kindly suggest they revise their strategy towards Haqqani. World Threats
 PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a press club in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing two people in the latest of a slew of attacks to strike the city of Peshawar since the military launched a major offensive near the Afghan border. A policeman tried to search the attacker as he approached the press club's gate, but the man resisted and was able to trigger his explosives, killing the officer and an accountant who worked for the organization, said Peshawar's police chief, Liaquat Ali Khan. A woman who was at the site of the attack apparently died of cardiac arrest, said Sahib Gul, a doctor at a hospital in Peshawar where the three bodies were brought. Adil Khan, a local photographer who was inside the press club when the attack occurred, said he heard the police officer at the gate, Muhammad Riaz, trying to force the bomber to submit to a search. "Suddenly a big explosion occurred and smoke made me unable to see immediately what happened," said Mr. Khan. "After a while, I saw Riaz and accountant Mian Iqbal lying dead in a pool of blood and there were some scattered body parts." Seventeen other people were injured in the attack, many of whom were traveling in a bus that passed the press club when the explosion occurred, said Dr. Gul. The blast blew out the press club's windows and slightly damaged the gate and several surrounding buildings. Peshawar has been hit by at least seven attacks in the past two months in retaliation for a military offensive launched in mid-October against the militant stronghold of South Waziristan in Pakistan's lawless tribal area near the Afghan border.
A single attack in late October in a market popular with women and children in Peshawar killed 112 people. The Peshawar Press Club targeted in Tuesday's attack is a well-known landmark in the city, and many journalists congregate there. "Journalists have played a vital role in our war by exposing the terrorists, so they are on the target list too, like mosques, bazaars and security institutions," said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for Northwest Frontier Province, where Peshawar is the capital. A provincial labor minister was scheduled to hold a press conference at the press club later Tuesday, said the organization's president, Shamim Shahid. He praised Mr. Riaz, the police officer who prevented the bomber from entering the building. "The policeman averted a major incident by sacrificing his life," said Mr. Shahid. WSJ
 ISLAMABAD – A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a mosque inside a police compound in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing 10 people in the latest attack by suspected Taliban militants waging war against the Pakistani government. The Taliban have stepped up their campaign of violence since the military launched a major offensive in mid-October in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan in Pakistan's lawless tribal area near the Afghan border. Friday's attack was the second in two weeks against a mosque used by Pakistan's security forces. Most of the 10 people killed in the attack in the Lower Dir region were police leaving the mosque after Friday prayers, said the area's police chief, Feroze Khan. The blast wounded another 28 people, also mostly police, said a local hospital official, Ghulam Mohammed. Lower Dir is next to the Swat Valley, which Pakistani soldiers wrested from the Taliban earlier this year. But periodic attacks have continued in the area. Militants have also staged attacks in Pakistan's heartland, many of them against the country's security forces. A team of militants armed with guns, grenades and bombs raided a mosque near army headquarters outside of Islamabad on Dec. 4, killing 36 people. WSJ
 A KEY plank of the US strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan was in danger of giving way last night after a refusal by Pakistan to take on a Taliban commander who is considered one of the gravest threats to Western forces. Pakistan has ignored US demands that it expand its military operation against Islamist militants to target strongholds of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of a legendary Mujaheddin commander. The standoff may mean an intensified campaign of American drone strikes in North Waziristan, US officials have warned. A senior Pakistani security official said any confrontation with Haqqani could create more problems for the overstretched Pakistani army, engaged in running battles with militants in neighbouring South Waziristan and other tribal regions. "We cannot fight on so many fronts," the official said. Any escalation by the US would be disastrous. "We have drawn a red line and would not accept any cross-border strikes by US forces." The proposal was first outlined last month in a letter from Mr Obama to President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, hand-delivered by General Jim Jones, his National Security Adviser. US intelligence believed that Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's military spy agency, has maintained links with Haqqani because of his ability to project Pakistani influence in Afghanistan. Reports yesterday said Mr Zardari resisted the direct appeal from Mr Obama for a rapid expansion of Pakistani military operations in tribal areas and has called on the US to speed up military assistance to Pakistani forces and to intervene more forcefully with India, its traditional adversary. In a written response to the letter from Mr Obama, Mr Zardari said his government was determined to take action against al-Qa'ida, the Taliban and allied insurgent groups attacking US forces in Afghanistan from the border area inside Pakistan. But, he said, Pakistan's efforts would be based on its own timeline and operational needs, The Washington Post reported. General David Petraeus, the senior US military officer in the region, reiterated the importance of targeting Haqqani in a meeting this week with General Ashfaq Kayani, head of the Pakistani military. But General Kayani told General Petraeus that the US should not expect "a major operation in North Waziristan". The Australian
 Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, came out of hiding to talk to CNN about the military operation in South Waziristan and the Taliban's planned response: "We will wait till January for our offensive since we are stronger during the snowing season," Mehsud said. He told CNN he remains confident despite the large-scale military operation currently targeting him and his fighters in the province of South Waziristan. "We have conserved our energy and have not lost our morale," he said. The leadership of his organization is safe, he said, but he didn't say where they are taking refuge. The military operation in South Waziristan appears to be winding down, and the Taliban appear to have slipped the Army offensive intact.
The press releases issued over the past two weeks by the military's Inter-Services Public Relations show this; there are few engagements, and most days there are no Taliban fighters killed or captured. It will be interesting to see if the Army stays in the Mehsud tribal areas, and if they do, will they be able to withstand a Taliban insurgency.
That is assuming Hakeemullah is correct and the Taliban counterattack is just a month away. Long War Journal
 PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Police commandos acting on a tip killed one militant and arrested five others Sunday in a raid against a bombing cell accused in recent attacks around the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, authorities said. Police said they encountered fierce resistance when they stormed the compound in the village of Kaka Khel near Peshawar, the largest city in the area and the main gateway to the Afghan border region where many Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents are based. Militants have carried out a wave of deadly attacks in and around Peshawar in apparent retaliation for an army offensive in the tribal area of South Waziristan. Three suicide jackets as well as a number of bombs, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons were seized from the compound, regional police Chief Liaquat Ali Khan said. He said one suspect was killed and five others arrested following a gunbattle that lasted more than two hours. A search operation for more militants continued in the area, some 30 miles east of Peshawar. The detained are suspected of involvement in recent bombings and other attacks not only in Peshawar but in Islamabad and its sister city of Rawalpindi, Khan said, declining to be more specific. Police have been on high alert since Friday's bombing-grenade attack in Rawalpindi that left 37 people dead, including several senior army officers. Pakistani security forces also killed 13 suspected militants, including a prominent commander identified as Gul Maula, in gunbattles in two other parts of the volatile northwest over the weekend. Maj. Mushtaq Ahmed, a military spokesman, said Maula and four others were killed in the Dangram area of the Swat Valley, where the suspected militants were spotted trying to sneak through the mountains to the main town of Mingora. Pakistan's army has waged an offensive against the Taliban in Swat for much of this year. In the neighboring region of Lower Dir, security forces killed eight alleged militants hiding in a house in the Maidan area, said Maj. Suleman Hanif, another army spokesman. The soldiers recovered weapons including two rocket launchers and eight assault rifles. FoxNews
 UP to 40 militants have attacked an army checkpoint, killing one soldier, a security official said today, after suicide bombers and gunmen killed dozens at a mosque near Pakistan's military headquarters. Pakistan's army, which heavily supported militant groups in their war against Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, now faces a stubborn Taliban insurgency on its own soil and mounting US pressure to root out Islamist fighters in tribal border areas.
Soldiers at the checkpoint on a bridge in Wana, the main town in the Islamist bastion of South Waziristan, retaliated after coming under fire today, said the security official.
"There were 30 to 40 militants who first fired rocket- propelled grenades at our post and then opened fire with AK-47 rifles which killed one of our soldiers. But we retaliated and killed six militants," a security official in the region, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
 KHAR, Pakistan — A key anti-Taliban tribal leader was assassinated Friday in a roadside bombing, the latest in a series of attacks against pro-government militias in the Afghan border area of northwestern Pakistan. Elsewhere, authorities found the bullet-riddled body of another tribal elder who was seized from his home late Thursday in an attack that also left his son dead. Violence has increased in Bajur and other northwestern tribal regions since the army launched an offensive in South Waziristan in mid-October. Fifteen Taliban fighters were killed in operations over the past 24 hours in South Waziristan, a military statement said Friday. Pakistani troops took control of three important militant strongholds in the Bara area of Khyber tribal region, killing another 15 insurgents. The famed Khyber region is the main route for ferrying supplies to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. It has been the focus of several past operations but the militants often resurface with fresh attacks against supply convoys and Pakistani security forces. The statement also said troops besieged Chapri Feroz Khel, a border area between Khyber and Orakzai tribal regions that was a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud. Mehsud openly operated in the area before he went underground after assuming command of the militants, and analysts believe he may still be hiding there. Tribal elder Shahfur Khan was returning to his home in Badan village to receive guests after prayers marking the start of Eid al-Adha, or Muslim feast of sacrifice, when the roadside bomb exploded, killing him and wounding three other people, according to local officials Jamil Khan and Abdul Malik. More at FoxNews
 Pakistan's military has launched a major offensive in the northwest Khyber agency, imposing a 24-hour curfew and a shoot-to-kill policy. The operation, called "You will like us", is taking place in the Barra Area, where security forces say 18 Taliban fighters have been killed in fighting so far. Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, said security officials had arrested six people and at least two hideouts and three Taliban strongholds had been destroyed in the operation. Authorities have claimed that Taliban fighters who escaped from an army operation in South Waziristan may have sought sanctuary in Barra. Pakistani officials say the spate of recent bloody attacks in Peshawar and surrounding areas, which have killed more than 150 people, were likely to have been co-ordinated from Barra. Officials on Tuesday also imposed a curfew in Bajaur district, north of Khyber, after deadly clashes with the Taliban. Authorities imposed an indefinite curfew after clashes in Khar, the main town of Bajaur district on the Afghan border, where US officials say al-Qaeda is plotting attacks on the West. "The crossfire continued for three hours. Six militants were killed in retaliatory fire," Adalat Khan, a local government official, told the AFP news agency. "Two civilians were also killed and four, including two women, wounded when a mortar shell landed inside a house," Khan said. Taliban fighters have recently stepped up attacks on security forces and government installations in Bajaur, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts. The violence has surged since Pakistan launched a major offensive in the Taliban bastion of South Waziristan on October 17. Officials say the aim is to distract the army's attention from South Waziristan. The continued unrest comes despite a six-month operation in Bajaur, which the army declared a success in February. Al Jazeera
 PARACHINAR, Pakistan — Pakistan's army killed 18 Islamist militants in a northwestern region Monday, part of an escalating campaign against insurgents intent on toppling the U.S.-allied government. It was the second day of fighting in Shahukhel in Hangu district close to the Afghan border. Like other parts of the lawless frontier zone, Hangu is home to Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents that launch attacks in Pakistan, as well as in Afghanistan. Pakistan is under pressure to crack down on militants and has won praise from its Western allies for an ongoing, major operation in the South Waziristan border region. But critics say the army should do more against insurgent groups who use the northwest as a safe haven to attack Western troops in Afghanistan. Hangu is around 93 miles north of South Waziristan. In Shahukhel, troops backed by artillery and helicopters killed 18 militants on Monday, intelligence officials said on customary condition of anonymity. There was no word on any military casualties. On Sunday, 12 militants were killed in the same area. Journalists are banned from visiting the border region, making it impossible to verify casualty figures. Taliban militants have carried out, or been blamed for, hundreds of bloody bombings in Pakistan against Western, military and government targets in recent years, including a spike over the last seven weeks that has killed more than 300 people. FoxNews
 As the Pakistani soldiers moved into South Waziristan, they found something almost as valuable as al Qaeda itself: the diaries and books that explain how militant ideology binds the diffuse world of terrorism together. Until the Pakistani Army swept into this small, hill-flocked valley on Nov. 3, Sararogha had served as the South Waziristan headquarters of the powerful terrorist group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan -- known in English as the TTP.
Despite the chaos since the death of its founder -- Baitullah Mehsud, killed by a U.S. drone strike on Aug. 5 -- the TTP had the area firmly in its grip, and made it a virtual black hole for government security and intelligence forces. The TTP had seized the town in a surprise raid on a paramilitary fort on Jan. 25 last year. They instantly executed half of the two dozen Frontier Corps soldiers, a move that filled the roughly 8,000 inhabitants with fear and forced them into silence.
The stones and debris still litter the ground of the fort -- the result of heavy artillery fire that the army used while entering the town. "It all started from here, the challenge to the state of Pakistan," Brig. Muhammed Shafiq, the commanding officer, told me during a recent visit. "Sararogha has turned into a symbol of the TTP terror in the region." But this month, the Army overtook the town and its southern ridge -- Point 1345 -- which overlooks Sararogha and the road to the periphery of the valley. The fight for this point has been fierce and bloody, with one soldier losing one of his legs to gunfire from the TTP and al Qaeda militants. The soldier is currently under treatment at a military hospital in Rawalpindi, where the Pakistani Army is headquartered, and officials will not name him for security reasons. Officials claim they have killed more than 550 militants in the current campaign thus far, while suffering close to 100 casualties themselves. More at Foreign Policy
 KHAR, Pakistan — Pakistani troops killed nearly 40 suspected militants Sunday in a series of operations in northwestern tribal areas near the Afghan border, officials said. The army launched an offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan in mid-October, but many militants fled north to escape the fighting. Sunday's attacks, which could not immediately be confirmed, appeared to be targeting areas to which they escaped. The deadliest strike was in Shahukhel, a town in the tribal area of Orakzai, in which at least 12 militants were reported killed and 14 detained in search operations by border forces, according to officials with the Frontier Corps. An attack helicopter also pounded several areas elsewhere in the region, killing at least four militants, intelligence officials said. At least 11 other suspects, including an insurgent commander, were killed in fighting when the army repulsed an attack in the Bajur region, which was the site of a major operation earlier this year, officials said. The battle broke out after an army base came under rocket fire. The military had been tipped off to the attack and opened fire on the militant positions, they said. Officials said 10 other militants were killed in military action elsewhere in Bajur. The military campaign against the Taliban there ended with a declaration of victory in March and continued activity underscores the resilience of the militants who are routed only to return to affected areas. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information. Journalists have little access to Pakistan's volatile tribal regions, which makes it virtually impossible to verify the casualty figures. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Azhar Abbas said there were air strikes in tribal areas but he provided no details. The Pakistani military said in a statement Sunday that five insurgents were killed and one soldier wounded in operations in South Waziristan. The United States has welcomed the Pakistani offensive, but wants the army to do more against the insurgents blamed for violence across the border in Afghanistan. Pakistan's army has retaken many towns in South Waziristan but many militants fled and have retaliated with a series of clashes and bombings. FoxNews
 ISLAMABAD — Three suspected militants blew themselves up as police gave chase Saturday in the Pakistani part of disputed Kashmir, authorities said. No other casualties were reported, but the incident underscored fears that militants are preparing attacks in other areas as retaliation for an army offensive under way in the Afghan border region of South Waziristan. The Pakistani military said Saturday that 14 militants and six soldiers were killed over the last 24 hours as part of that operation. The three men in Kashmir fled after police acting on a tip raided their hide-out in the Thori area of regional capital Muzaffarabad, according to senior police officer Sardar Ilyas. Police pursued them and the men detonated explosives on their bodies after being trapped on a mountain, Ilyas said, adding 18 hand grenades, three assault rifles and a pistol had been seized from the hide-out. Security was tightened around government buildings and other potential targets in the city amid fears of violence, Ilyas said. Kashmir is disputed between Pakistan and India, who both claim the territory in its entirety. The two nuclear rivals have fought two wars over the region since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. In northwestern Pakistan, a gas explosion injured one person and damaged a two-story building Saturday in Peshawar. Police initially said it was a bomb but later determined it was an accident. The conflicting statements reflect the atmosphere of fear that has taken hold in Peshawar, the largest city in the northwest and the main gateway to the Al Qaeda and Taliban-infested frontier region. Violence has increased in the area since the army launched the operation in nearby South Waziristan in mid-October. Many militants are believed to have fled the fighting. Senior officers, including the city's police chief, first said the explosion, which partially destroyed the two-story building, was caused by a bomb. But Haroon Babar, a senior police officer, said a bomb disposal squad sent to the site found no explosives. "It seems that a gas pipeline under the wall might have exploded causing the damage," he said. Pakistan helped nurture a generation of Islamic militants after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Following the Soviet withdrawal a decade later, Pakistan helped the Taliban seize control. Many of these militants fled to Pakistan after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. FoxNews
 At least 19 people have been killed in a suicide bomb blast outside the main gate of a court building in Peshawar. Thursday's attack was the seventh deadly explosion to hit the northwestern Pakistani city in less than two weeks.
Officials said about 30 people were wounded in the attack, which occurred during rush hour when the area is normally crowded with lawyers, administrative personnel and the public. Later in the day, a second attack targeted a police patrol vehicle in the city, police said.
"One policemen has been martyred and four injured in the attack," Mohammad Karim Khan, a senior police official, said. The court building were the first blast took place is located on Khyber Road, across the street from the Pearl Continental Hotel, which was the target of a deadly bomb attack in June. "It happened outside the judicial complex," Abdul Wali, a police officer, told the Reuters news agency. Sahibzada Anees, the head of Peshawar city administration, said that a suicide bomber carried out the attack. "The attacker was on foot and blew himself when guards tried to search him at the gates of the court," he said. Three policemen were among the dead, Anees said.
Up to 17 bodies had been brought to Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital, Sahib Gul, the most senior official, said.
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the attacker was trying to enter the court's complex when he was stopped by security personnel.
"The attack took place at 10:20am [local time] when the Khyber Road is jam packed with traffic as well as people," he said.
"As that suicide bomber tried to enter the court, the police decided to conduct a search at which point he detonated the device, with devastating consequences."
A wave of attacks have targeted police checkpoints, police stations and the provincial headquarters of Pakistan's spy agency, ISI, this month, killing dozens of people.
The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for several of the attacks, but Yusuf Reza Gilani, Pakistan's prime minister, said that many of the group's commanders were on the run.
"They are using the weapons they have scattered here and there," he said. "God willing, it will take some time, but I assure you things will return to normal soon."
The blast comes as military battles members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, one of the main anti-government groups, in the country's semi-autonomous tribal region of South Waziristan.
The military launched its offensive nearly three weeks ago, pitting about 30,000 troops against an estimated 10 to 12,000 Taliban fighters in South Waziristan. Al Jazeera (English)
 AT least four militants were killed and five others wounded in a US drone missile strike in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said today. The attack took place in Shanakhora village of North Waziristan, an area where Washington says Islamist fighters are hiding out and planning attacks on Western troops stationed in neighbouring Afghanistan. "It was a US drone attack which targeted a militant compound, killing four militants and wounding five others," a senior security official in the area said. He said two missiles were fired from a US drone. Another security official confirmed the attack. The Australian
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A raid by a US drone in northwest Pakistan has killed at least 12 suspected opposition fighters, Pakistani officials have said. 
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