THE Obama administration says it is taking steps to protect or relocate dissidents and human rights activists whose lives may be placed at risk by their disclosure in leaked US diplomatic documents.

PAKISTANI authorities blocked a vital supply route for NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan yesterday after the killing of three soldiers in two NATO cross-border incursions, officials said.

A suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint in north west Pakistan today, killing 11 people, including four children, the latest in a wave of militant attacks that have claimed more than 300 lives in the past month.

Taliban militants claimed responsibility today for a suicide bomb attack at the UN food agency in Pakistan’s capital in which five people were killed, saying international relief work in Pakistan was not in “the interest of Muslims”.

PAKISTAN yesterday signalled the end of its anti-Taliban offensive in the Swat Valley.

Pakistan today signalled the end of its anti-Taliban offensive in the Swat Valley.

Sacked Pakistani Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry was reinstated to his post following months of pressure from the opposition, it was reported today.

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif today warned that the country was moving towards a state of political crisis.

Pakistani authorities mounted a massive security operation today to hold opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest for the second time in five days and prevent her from staging a protest march against emergency rule.