The midnight suicide attack that killed up to 136 people and shattered the homecoming of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto might have been the work of al-Qaida and the Taliban, authorities in Pakistan said today.

FORMER prime minister Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan from a seven-year exile, hoping to campaign against the country’s US-allied military ruler, but was immediately charged with corruption and deported to Saudi Arabia hours later.

The siege of a radical mosque in Pakistan’s capital entered its third day today after troops rocked the complex with gunfire and explosions and Islamic militants holed up inside rejected government calls to surrender.

Security forces clashed with militants outside a radical mosque in the Pakistani capital today, triggering gunfire that killed two police officers and one soldier.

GUNFIRE and explosions rocked a besieged radical mosque in Pakistan’s capital last night, as Islamic militants holed up in the complex ignored a call from their captured leader to surrender.

A roadside bomb blew up a vehicle, killing five people, including a regional government official, in troubled north-western Pakistan today, a security official said.

At least 24 people were killed and 25 wounded when a suicide attacker detonated a bomb that ripped through a crowded Pakistan hotel restaurant in the north-western city of Peshawar today.

Security guards prevented a suicide bomber from killing Pakistan's interior minister in an attack at a political gathering in a north-western town today that left at least 22 dead and 35 wounded, officials said.

A suicide attacker detonated a bomb at a public meeting in north-western Pakistan today, killing at least seven people and wounding Pakistan’s interior minister, police said.

The US Defence Department announced the capture of one of al-Qaida’s most senior and most experienced operatives, an Iraqi who was trying to return to his native country when he was captured.

A fresh burst of fighting between local and foreign militants near the Afghan border killed 52 people today, a senior government official said.

Pakistan today rejected the US intelligence chief’s claims that Osama bin Laden and his deputy are hiding in the country, and that al-Qaida is setting up camps near the border with Afghanistan.

A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a courtroom in troubled south-western Pakistan on Saturday, killing a judge and 14 others, police and other officials said.

Pakistani authorities are investigating claims by residents of a remote border village that Nato and Afghan forces crossed into Pakistan to search for suspected Taliban militants and killed a local tribesman, officials said today.

A suicide attacker detonated a bomb in a car park at Islamabad’s international airport today, wounding at least two police officers and killing himself, officials said.

A suicide bomber killed a police officer protecting a Shia Muslim procession in north-western Pakistan today, while rocket fire injured 11 worshippers at a Shia mosque, stoking fears of sectarian bloodshed as the holy festival of Ashoura builds towards its climax.

Hundreds of police secured a religious procession through Peshawar in north-west Pakistan today, after a suicide bomber killed 15 people near a similar Shiite Muslim gathering and heightened fears of sectarian violence.

A suspected suicide attacker set off a bomb in Pakistan today near Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel, killing one person and wounding at least several others, police said.

Pakistan today demanded that US intelligence networks share information on the whereabouts Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaida figures.

Pakistan’s interior minister said British death row inmate Mirza Tahir Hussain was released today after 18 years in custody in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s president commuted the death sentence against a British man who has spent 18 years behind bars disputing his conviction on charges of shooting dead a taxi driver, the interior minister said today.

A bomb which exploded in a crowded market in the Pakistani city of Peshawar today, has killed at least seven people and wounded more than 40, police said.

Eight Pakistani militants suspected of links with al-Qaida have been arrested in connection with attempted rocket attacks in and near the capital Islamabad.

A key suspect being held in Pakistan in connection with the alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights from the UK has given interrogators “vital clues,” a Pakistani government minister said today.

Pakistani intelligence agents were questioning at least 17 people, including British nationals, over their alleged links to a plot to blow up US-bound passenger jets from Britain, officials said today.

POLICE arrested 40 people in cities throughout Italy in raids on Muslim gathering places in a security crackdown after Britain thwarted an alleged terror plot, the Interior Ministry said last night.

THE extent of the Pakistan connection to the alleged airliner bomb plot was revealed last night after officials there announced the arrest of two British nationals and described one as a “key” suspect.

An Afghan warlord wanted by the United States declared support for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in a videotape broadcast today by Al-Jazeera television.

Pakistan has no information on where al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden could be hiding, a Cabinet minister said today.

A suspect killed in a shootout with Pakistani agents this week was a senior al-Qaida operative from Syria behind militant attacks in Pakistan’s tribal regions and against US forces in eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan’s interior minister said today.

Pakistani helicopter gunships opened fire after pro-Taliban tribesmen traded mortar and gun fire with security forces near the Afghan border today. At least 22 militants were killed, the interior minister said.

Pakistani security forces arrested hundreds of Islamic hard-liners and virtually sealed off the capital Islamabad today, before using gunfire and tear gas to disperse a Prophet Mohammed cartoon protest that had been banned by the government after a wave of deadly riots.

Thousands of Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches in north-eastern Nigeria, killing at least 15 people, police and residents said.

THOUSANDS of protesters rampaged through two cities yesterday in Pakistan’s worst violence against the Prophet Mohammed drawings, officials said.

An apparent suicide bombing ripped through a Shiite Muslim procession today in north-western Pakistan, killing at least eight people, injuring 40 and sparking riots during the Muslim sect’s most important holiday.

Police have arrested 11 people with suspected links to a bus bombing that killed 13 people and wounded 20 in south-western Pakistan.

A bomb explosion ripped through a passenger bus in Pakistan today, killing 12 people and wounding at least 13 others, the interior minister said.

Interpol has issued international notices, at Pakistan’s request, seeking the arrest of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband on corruption charges.

Pakistan’s Islamic schools today said they would resist any effort by police to round up their foreign students – even as the government backed away from its threat to do so unless the students leave Pakistan by tomorrow.

The remains of one of the suspected London suicide bombers were buried in a remote village in Pakistan today, hours after his coffin arrived in this Islamic nation from Britain.

Injured and hungry, families huddled under makeshift tents waiting for relief supplies today after Pakistan’s worst earthquake wiped out entire villages, buried roads in rubble and knocked out electricity and water supplies. The death toll ranged from 20,000 and 30,000 and is expected to rise.

RESCUERS struggled to reach remote, mountainous areas and stricken residents of a devastated city scavenged for food and gasoline yesterday, a day after a massive earthquake struck Pakistan and India.

Villagers dug with bare hands into collapsed schools and homes today in desperate searches for survivors of a huge earthquake that killed more than 30,000 in South Asia.

Pakistani security officials said today they foiled new terror attacks with the arrest of the head of an al-Qaida linked extremist group accused of killing scores of minority Shiite Muslims.