Middle East, Militants | featured news

For the second successive day, a suspected missile strike from a U.S. drone struck a militant training camp.

A military offensive to rid Pakistan's northwest of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters has killed more than 1,000 militants since it began in full force earlier this month, the country's interior ministry said Sunday.

Pakistani planes bombed suspected militant positions in a stronghold close to the capital Monday, pressing ahead with a fierce offensive the government claimed had killed 700 insurgents and had the Taliban on the run.

The Pakistani government plans to scrap a tenuous peace deal with Taliban militants and launch an even more aggressive operation against them in northwestern Pakistan, a Pakistani military official said today.

The Pakistani army says it has launched a new offensive against militants in a northwest district that neighbors the beleaguered Swat Valley and Afghanistan.

As the Taliban tightened their hold over newly won territory, Pakistani politicians and American officials on Thursday sharply questioned the government’s willingness to deal with the insurgents and the Pakistani military’s decision to remain on the sidelines.

Two separate suicide bombings killed up to 69 people in Iraq, while the suspected leader of an al Qaeda-linked militant network was captured by Iraqi forces.