A probe into the deadliest attack on Pakistani troops waging a counterinsurgency campaign along the Afghan border was progressing well, an investigator said today, as a previously unknown group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing that killed 42 soldiers.

Pakistan’s military had to destroy an Islamic school, killing 80 people in the process, with helicopter-fired missiles to prevent trainee terrorists escaping the building, the army said today as critics denounced the government for using disproportionate force.

Pakistani troops backed by missile-firing helicopters killed an estimated 80 militants today after destroying a purported al-Qaida-linked training facility near the Afghan border, the military said.

THOUSANDS of angry Pakistanis protested yesterday against a US airstrike that killed civilians, chanting "Long live Osama bin Laden!" as anti-American rallies in the country entered their second week.

An al-Qaida explosives and chemical weapons expert and a relative of the terror network’s number-two leader were among three top operatives believed killed in a US missile strike in Pakistan last week, Pakistani security officials said today.