13 people killed in Pakistan attack

Thirteen people were killed today when suspected pro-Taliban militants attacked the house of a government official in north-western Pakistan, police said.

“We believe that local Taliban are behind this attack. They used AK-47s and rockets to attack the house,” said Jamal Khan, a local police official.

Six members of the same family and seven guests, were killed, Khan said.

The attack occurred near Tank, a town in Pakistan’s troubled North West Frontier Province that lies in territory near the Afghan border where Islamic militants have challenged the government’s authority with increasing success over the past year. The area has been the site of several deadly attacks over the past week.

Khan said the house belonged to Ameerud Din, a local political administrator. He was not home at the time, but his brother, who also is a government servant, was among those killed.

The family had recently received threats that appeared to be tied to a brother who works as a reporter in the southern city of Karachi, Khan said.

Analysts say pro-Taliban groups are extending their influence from the semi-autonomous tribal region next to the Afghan border. The area is considered a haven for Taliban guerrillas fighting foreign troops in Afghanistan as well as a possible hiding place for al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

The government also faces militancy in the south-western region of Baluchistan.

In the latest incident there, a man on a motorcycle hurled a grenade at the offices of a state-run gas company in the provincial capital, Quetta, killing a security guard, police said Monday.

Ethnic Baluch groups are suspected of targeting security forces, railways, gas fields and pipelines to press demands for greater autonomy and increased royalties for resources extracted in the province.