A suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a car carrying a pro-government tribal elder and at least three other people today, killing them in the latest explosion to rock Pakistan’s militant-riddled north-west, officials said.

Army surveillance planes today flew over suspected militant strongholds in Pakistan’s north-western tribal district where a major offensive is planned, and helicopter gunships hit several targets in advance strikes, officials said.

A suspected US missile strike hit the home of a Taliban commander in north-western Pakistan today, killing at least five militants, officials said.

A TOP Arab al-Qaida operative was among six militants killed overnight in a suspected US missile strike in north-west Pakistan, a senior security official said yesterday.

Six people were reportedly killed in a suspected US missile strike that hit a village well in Pakistan.

Suspected militants bombed a van carrying prisoners in northwest Pakistan today, killing at least nine people, as fighting between security forces and extremists flared across the country’s tribal belt.

Gunmen took 30 children and teachers hostage at a school in north west Pakistan today.

The first confirmed woman suicide bomber in Pakistan blew herself up without harming anyone else, officials said today.

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.

A suicide bomber set off a blast that killed at least 15 people and injured 22 others today at a crowded police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, police said.

A suspected Islamic militant drove his explosive-laden car into a military convoy in north-western Pakistan today, killing five soldiers and wounding five more.

Thousands of troops were deployed to north-west Pakistan to try dissuading outlawed Islamic militants from launching a holy war against the government for its bloody attack on a radical mosque, officials said today.

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.

Attackers fired rockets at a military post in a Pakistani tribal region near Afghanistan, killing seven soldiers and injuring two others, officials said today.

A Pakistani army helicopter with about 16 people aboard crashed today in a remote northwestern tribal region that has been the scene of sporadic fighting with foreign militants and their local supporters, police and a senior army official said.