Militants fired on helicopter gunships and attacked Pakistani troops advancing into their main sanctuary near the Afghan border today as the army pressed ahead with its most critical offensive yet against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Pakistan has ramped up its campaign against Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, placing a bounty on the chieftain’s head and launching air strikes on his stronghold in the country’s north-west.

A suspected US missile strike killed at least seven people in northwest Pakistan, witnesses said today.

A bomb exploded in medical store in a town market in north-western Pakistan today, killing four people and wounding 10, officials said.

TRIBESMEN have killed about 300 foreign militants during a weeks-long offensive in the mountainous region of Waziristan, near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, according to Pakistan’s military leader and president General Pervez Musharraf.

Hundreds of religious hard-liners chanting “Jihad!” staged rallies today in a Pakistani town against an army airstrike on a suspected al Qaida hide-out and claimed it had killed innocent labourers, witnesses said.

A Pakistani reporter for the BBC said he was released today by unknown men in the capital, Islamabad, a day after they abducted, blindfolded and beat him.

A BBC journalist went missing today after visiting the Pakistani capital Islamabad, the BBC said, and his brother feared intelligence agents may have kidnapped him.

Outrage at the US has continued in Pakistan, with thousands taking to the streets chanting “Death to America” and calling for holy war over an airstrike that devastated a remote border village.

A PROMINENT pro-government tribal elder wounded in an ambush in Pakistan’s tribal region has died.

Suspected Islamic militants fired rockets at security forces in a restive Pakistani border region today and troops returned fire, an official said.

Pakistani jets pounded a suspected training camp for foreign militants - including Uzbeks, Arabs and Chechens – in a two hour barrage in tribal South Waziristan today.

At least seven foreign militants were killed today in a gun battle with the Pakistani army on the Afghan border where hundreds of al-Qaida militants are suspected to be hiding.

The bodies of two Pakistani government officials have been found dumped in a well after they were abducted two weeks ago at the start of a major counter-terrorism operation, during which the military claims it killed the top al-Qaida intelligence chief.

Pakistani troops have begun withdrawing from some parts of western Pakistan after militants agreed to release captured soldiers and politicians.

Eight Pakistani soldiers whose bodies were found in a remote northwestern tribal region with their hands tied behind their backs were slain by militants who had taken them hostage, military and government officials said today.

A BOMBING and a series of rocket attacks on Pakistani forces have raised fears that their bloody offensive against al-Qaida militants could be provoking a broad backlash.

A roadside bomb killed three police officers and a civilian in the latest of a series of attacks raising fears that a bloody offensive by Pakistani forces against al-Qaida militants could be provoking a broad backlash.

FIFTEEN soldiers were killed and 15 injured when a Pakistani army convoy heading toward a counter- terrorism sweep against al-Qaida militants near the Afghan border was ambushed, officials said yesterday.

Twelve soldiers were killed and 15 injured when a Pakistani army convoy heading toward a counter-terrorism sweep against al-Qaida militants near the Afghan border was ambushed, officials said today.

Pakistani forces were searching homes amid a lull in fierce fighting against suspected al-Qaida hideouts near the Afghan border today.

Pakistan’s military has arrested more than 100 suspects in their five-day assault on al-Qaida militants holed up in mud fortresses along the border, the military commander in charge of the operation said today.

Pakistani attack helicopters and artillery resumed pounding hundreds of al Qaida suspects and tribesmen besieged in mud fortresses where al Qaida number two Ayman al-Zawahri is believed hiding in a Pakistani border region early today.

Thousands of Pakistani army reinforcements were joining a major offensive today in tribal border villages where al-Qaida’s Number 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is believed surrounded.

Pakistani forces believe they have cornered and perhaps wounded Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, in a major battle near the Afghan border.

Pakistani troops killed 24 suspects today in a fierce crackdown on al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives in the rugged tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistani paramilitary troops today killed 11 people on a minibus after it failed to stop at a checkpoint in a remote tribal area that authorities have identified as a possible hideout for Osama bin Laden, an army spokesman 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.

PAKISTANI troops backed by helicopters launched an offensive yesterday to capture foreign terrorists in the mountains along the Afghan border where Osama bin Laden is thought to have bolt-holes.

A new audio tape said to be by Osama bin Laden urges Muslims to carry out suicide attacks and to rise up against Arab governments that have supported the US-led war in Iraq.

Four suspected al-Qaida fugitives were killed today in a shoot-out with police in a remote region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, authorities said.

Suspected al Qaida fugitives killed 10 Pakistani soldiers today in a remote part of the country near the border with Afghanistan, the government said.