Foreign journalists shot in Pakistan
US missiles hit militants
Militants shot and wounded two foreign journalists on the outskirts of Peshawar yesterday, and US missiles killed 12 people in a strike on a Pakistani Taliban commander's stronghold in tribal lands bordering Afghanistan.
Spiralling violence has raised fears that nuclear-armed Pakistan could slide into chaos unless the eight-month-old civilian government, also faced with a potentially crippling economic crisis, and the army can throttle the militant threat.
The shooting of a Japanese and an Afghan journalist yesterday was the latest incident involving foreigners in Peshawar.
The capital of North West Frontier Province has borne the brunt of attacks in cities by Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban, and operating out of the tribal lands. An Iranian diplomat was kidnapped and his police bodyguard killed on Thursday, an American aid worker was gunned down along with his driver on Wednesday, while a suicide bomber killed three people at a sports stadium a day earlier.
Militants are retaliating against US missile strikes in the Waziristan region, at the southwest end of the tribal belt, and an offensive by Pakistani forces in Bajaur, at the northeast end.
The Pakistan army is also fighting insurgents in the northwest valley of Swat, and tribesmen said gunship helicopters struck militant positions in Mohmand, a region neighbouring Bajaur, where an offensive is expected any day. Frustrated by fighters from Pakistan fuelling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and fearful of al Qaeda regrouping, US forces have intensified missile attacks by pilotless drones since early September.