Pakistani authorities have arrested five more suspected members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network in the past 48 hours, including “valuable targets”.

Explosive experts today defused a bomb in a small van parked next to the heavily guarded US Consulate in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, sparing the building from “big destruction”, police said.

Pakistani forces backed by helicopters and paramilitary troops launched an operation to capture fugitive al-Qaida and Taliban suspects in remote border areas today, sweeping through villages in a region where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.

POLICE arrested nine people with suspected ties to the planners of an assassination attempt last month against Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, a security official said in Islamabad yesterday.

Pakistan’s army launched a major offensive today against suspected terrorists in a mountainous region near the Afghan border believed used by al-Qaida fugitives.

The leaders of India and Pakistan discussed ways to resolve the poisonous dispute over Kashmir during their historic meeting on the sidelines of a South Asian summit, Pakistani officials said today, predicting a breakthrough in relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Pakistan’s military president met with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today on the sidelines of a South Asian summit, building on momentum toward better relations after a half-century of venom.

India today blamed Islamic militant groups for twin car bombings in Bombay which killed 50 people and left 154 wounded in the worst terrorist attack in a decade in the country’s financial heart.

Pakistani authorities arrested an al Qaida suspect in the eastern city of Lahore today, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

GUNMEN opened fire on a police post guarding the US Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan yesterday, killing two policemen and injuring at least five others, police and hospital officials said.

India was today told it would be taught an “unforgettable lesson” if it ever launched a nuclear attack on Pakistan.