Militant attack in Pakistan's northwest kills at least

Around 150 militants armed with rockets attacked a security checkpost in Pakistan's Waziristan on Thursday, killing eight soldiers, intelligence officials said, as tensions rise in the border region.

Twelve militants were killed in retaliatory firing by security forces.

The attack came on the heels of stepped-up missile strikes by U.S. drone aircraft in the tribal region along the Afghan border regarded as a hub of militants from around the world.

"The militants were carrying rockets and heavy weapons and attacked the checkpost shortly after midnight," an intelligence official in the region told Reuters.

"Eight soldiers were killed and twelve were wounded," he added.

Security forces hit back at the militants, killing at least 12 of them and wounding five, another official said.

The attack took place in Makeen, an area on the border between North and Waziristan, which was once a stronghold of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the main alliance of Pakistan's homegrown militant groups involved in suicide and bomb attacks across the country.

Pakistan army launched a major offensive in South Waziristan in 2009, driving TTP fighters out of their bases in the restive region.

Many TTP leaders, including its chief Hakimullah Mehsud, were believed to have fled into North Waziristan.

The United States has been urging the Pakistani military to launch a ground offensive in North Waziristan, which is also the main of the Haqqani network that leads the insurgency just over the border in eastern Afghanistan.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/09/us-pakistan-violence-idUSTRE7580IM20110609

Pakistani Taliban claims responsibility for Pakistan naval base attack

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a deadly weekend attack on a naval base in Karachi.

The group's spokesman, Ihsan Ullah, told CNN on Monday that the attack at the naval air station in the coastal city was to avenge the killing of innocent civilians. The group said Pakistani security forces are carrying out the killings on the instruction of the United States in the name of a "war on terror."

At least 10 militants attacked the base with guns and grenades about 11 p.m. Sunday, leading to several explosions and an hours-long gun battle with Pakistani forces that killed four naval officials, authorities said.

Besides the four dead, nine navy personnel were injured in the attack on the grounds of the Mehran base, said Pakistani navy spokesman Irfan Ul Haq early Monday. He did not have the number of militants who died or were injured.

Two witnesses -- Amjad Bashir and Talha Hashmi -- reported at least 10 explosions in the subsequent hours.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/23/pakistan.base.attack/

Terrorists safe havens in Pak a challenge: Pentagon

WASHINGTON: Continued presence of terrorist safe havens and role of certain "actors" in Pakistan remains a challenge in the war against terror, a US defence official has said.

"The concern about the role of safe havens in Pakistan and the role of actors in Pakistan, including the Haqqani Network, the Afghan Taliban who are located primarily, the leadership is located either in the south or in the north around Peshawar, that remains a significant challenge," a senior defense official said at a Pentagon briefing.

Pentagon has sent its six-monthly report to the Congress on progress made in Afghanistan, the official said, adding that the United States is looking for continued and increased cooperation with the Pakistanis on the border.

"As we've seen it some areas; other areas we've seen it doing very well in some areas; other areas it's gotten better; other areas we're seeking much more improvement. That's something that we continue to look at very closely. It's certainly an area of strategic risk," the official said.

"At the same time, given the progress that we've made in areas that we've put our effort into over the last 18 months ... are we through that success on the ground able to mitigate that?"

One of the keys is the fact that some of the people who are coming in to reintegrate were in Pakistan before, the official said adding that there was a recent ceremony in Kandahar where a group of about 40 or 50 Taliban fighters appear to have come in and reintegrated.

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Terrorists-safe-havens-in-Pak-a-challenge-Pentagon/articleshow/8123993.cms