Pakistan prepares for new offensive

Pakistani forces have given tribesmen in a new cluster of remote hideouts along the Afghan border an April 20 deadline to hand over al-Qaida terrorists or face a fierce crackdown by thousands of troops.

Critics, however, said announcing the deadline made it easy for terrorists to flee ahead of the operation, as they did last month when Pakistani forces allowed a top al-Qaida terrorist to get away in South Waziristan.