ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Helicopter gunships pounded pro-Taliban militants in the mountains of northwest Pakistan on Thursday, reportedly killing as many as 70 in an increasingly bloody conflict between the government and Islamist forces.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday Pakistan must go ahead with elections next year and the United States opposed any move by President Pervez Musharraf to impose martial law.
Muslim extremists are expanding their control of northern Pakistan, challenging the U.S.-backed government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and adding to the lands where terrorists allied with Osama bin Laden find refuge.
The mountainous area is the setting for fighting between Islamic militants and Pakistan's nervous security forces.
A suicide bomber on Thursday killed eight Pakistan air force personnel while 70 militants died in clashes, amid mounting fears that President Pervez Musharraf could declare emergency rule.
The Pakistani opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, left Pakistan for what she said was a visit to Dubai, according to news agency reports.
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan escalated raids against pro- Taliban gunmen in the Swat Valley near Afghanistan, as GEO television said President Pervez Musharraf's Cabinet discussed imposing a state of emergency in the country to end unrest.
Security forces killed at least 60 militant supporters of a pro-Taliban cleric in Pakistan's northwest, the army said Thursday, hours after a suicide attack on an air force bus killed eight and wounded 40.
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Afghan security forces killed a rebel commander and several of his men as they crossed the border from Pakistan, the U.S. military said.
Jordan's King Abdullah II and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf held talks on the situation in the Middle East, officials said Thursday.