White House says can’t confirm death of Pak Taliban chief

WASHINGTON - The Obama Administration said on Friday that it could not confirm that Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has a 5 million dollars US bounty on his head, had been killed in a missile attack two days ago.

Official: US increasingly confident that drone strike killed top Taliban leader Mehsud

WASHINGTON — U.S. authorities are increasingly confident that top Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud was killed in Wednesday’s U.S. missile strike in northeastern Pakistan, officials said Friday.

White House: Reported killing of Taliban chief means people of Pakistan safer

WASHINGTON — A spokesman for President Barack Obama says the White House cannot confirm the killing of Pakistan’s Taliban chief but added that the people of Pakistan are now safer if reports are accurate.

Close aide confirms Mehsud’s death in US missile strike

DERA ISMAIL KHAN - A close aide of Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud confirmed on Friday that the latter has been killed in a U.S. missile strike.

Qureshi says Pak intelligence has confirmed Mehsud’s killing

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday said that country’s intelligence sources have confirmed the killing of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

Aide says Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed by US missile strike

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Pakistan’s Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who unleashed a fearsome campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations that made him the country’s most-wanted man, was killed in a U.S. missile strike, an aide said Friday.

Pakistan security forces rescue children forcibly recruited by Taliban

ISLAMABAD — Security forces have rescued several children forcibly recruited by the Taliban, allegedly to be used as fighters or suicide bombers, and there could be hundreds more of them, officials said Tuesday.

Pakistan probes Taliban links of hardline cleric who brokered failed Swat peace deal

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani authorities are detaining for one month an Islamist cleric who brokered a failed peace deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley to investigate whether he inappropriately aided the militants, officials said Monday.

20 dead in clashes between security forces and militants in restive northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Clashes between security forces and militants have left 20 people dead in northwest Pakistan over the past 24 hours, officials said Monday, in the latest violence in the troubled region.

Intelligence officials say suspected US missile strike kills 3 militants in NW Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A suspected U.S. missile strike hit a Taliban communication center in the country’s northwest late Friday, killing at least three people and wounding three more, intelligence officials said.

Mehsud buying, selling children to use them as suicide bombers: Pak Army

LONDON - Pakistan, for the first time has admitted that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud is virtually running a factory of suicide bombers, and using small children for the purpose.

Orakzai chopper crash, a heavy blow to Pak Army before S.Waziristan offensive

ISLAMABAD - Friday’s helicopter crash in which 26 security personel were killed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas’ (FATA) Orakzai Agency, is being seen as a serious blow to the Pakistan Army ahead of the its planned all out offensive against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan.

Pakistani official says a military helicopter crash in northwest kills 26 security personnel

ISLAMABAD — A military official says 26 security personnel have been killed in a helicopter crash in northwestern Pakistan.

UN formally opens probe into assassination of former Pakistan PM Bhutto

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The United Nations formally began a six-month investigation Wednesday into the slaying of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a process that the government hopes will lead to her killers being brought to justice.

Pakistan’s dangerous double game on war on terror exposed

LONDON - The recent killing of Taliban leader Qari Zainuddin, who had been staying in a compound provided by Pakistan’s ISI security agency, has uncovered a complicated and dangerous double game that Pakistan has been playing, The Independent reports.

Swat operation nears end, says Gilani

KARACHI - Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the military operation in the Swat Valley is nearing end as the top rung militants there have been killed and the government would now focus on the development of the region, the Online News Agency said Saturday.

Pakistan police kill 5 suspected Taliban militants in shootout in southern city of Karachi

KARACHI, Pakistan — Police killed five suspected militants Saturday in a nighttime raid on a Karachi apartment housing insurgents loyal to the Pakistani Taliban leader blamed for a wave of suicide attacks, a top official said.

Taliban bombs girls’ school in South Waziristan

PESHAWAR - In what may be seen as a show of defiance against the military which has launched a major offensive against the Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in the region, the Taliban has blown up a girls’ school in South Waziristan.

Officials: Suicide bomber kills at least 2 soldiers in Pakistani part of Kashmir

ISLAMABAD — A suicide bomber blew himself up early Friday near an army vehicle, killing at least two soldiers in the first such assault in Pakistan’s part of divided Kashmir, the military said, marking a possible escalation in the militant campaign against security forces.

Pak Army readying fresh ‘operational plans’ against Mehsud following rival’s assassination

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan military is preparing new ‘operational plans’ against the Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

A look the deadliest US missile strikes in Pakistan

Unmanned U.S. drone aircraft have fired missiles at suspected militant targets in Pakistan’s tribal region dozens of times in the past two years. Here are details of some of the deadliest attacks, based on information from Pakistani officials:

Pakistan says Swat cleared of Taliban

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan government Wednesday claimed that the entire Malakand division, including Swat, in the country’s restive northwest had been cleared of the Taliban, but this seemed to be at variance with the military that indicated that its operations against the militants were far from over.

Missile death toll at 55 in Pakistan, reports dismissed that Taliban head had close call

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The head of Pakistan’s Taliban attended a funeral shortly before a suspected U.S. missile strike that killed about 55 people, two intelligence officials said Wednesday, but a top Taliban aide denied that the leader had a close call.

Killing Mehsud would deal a body-blow to Pak Taliban’s effectiveness: Experts

WASHINGTON - The Pakistan Army has claimed that its Swat offensive has been successful with scores top Taliban leaders being killed, but the fate of Swat Taliban chief Mullah Fazalullah and the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud is still under wraps.

Discovery of militant camp in northwest Pakistan may hold clues to fight against Taliban

GHAR-I-HIRA CAMP, Pakistan — Deep in the tunnel, a small wooden cabinet is the only piece of furniture, a syringe still in its plastic wrapper and a disposable razor scattered on the shelves. A pair of sky-blue pants lies on the rocky ground by the remnants of a threadbare sleeping mat.

Taliban, Al Qaeda could spread globally: Zardari

WASHINGTON - The Taliban and the Al Qaeda could spread in other parts of the world if they were not defeated in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has warned.

Police say 7 militants killed by citizens militia in northwest Pakistan

ISLAMABAD — A citizens’ militia trying to drive out the Taliban killed seven militants in a two-hour clash in Pakistan’s troubled northwest, police said Sunday, as the president claimed the entire country backs the battle against the extremists.

38 Taliban killed as Pakistani Army continues operations

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces have killed 38 Taliban - the bulk of them in the South Waziristan agency along the border with Afghanistan - the military said Saturday as its offensive against the militants continued for the 55th day.

Suspected US missile strike kills 5 in Pakistan, while bomb kills 8 elsewhere in northwest

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A suspected U.S. missile strike killed at least five people Sunday in a tribal region where Pakistan’s top Taliban commander is based, intelligence officials said, breaking a lull in such attacks and posing a test for growing anti-Taliban sentiment in the country.

Officials say clashes in Pakistan tribal area kill 23; odds of a new offensive rising

ISLAMABAD — Dozens of militants attacked three army posts in a tribal region that serves as the primary base for Pakistan’s Taliban chief, triggering shootouts that left 20 insurgents and three soldiers dead early Thursday, intelligence officials told The Associated Press.