Pakistan deploys troops to avert jihad

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.

As the troop movement proceeded in at least five areas of the North West Frontier Province, a suicide bomber struck in another border region, his explosives-laden vehicle killing at least eight soldiers in a military convoy, said army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad.