Anti-Taliban leader slain, Pakistan raids kill 15

Bombers killed an anti-Taliban leader in Pakistan's tribal belt where the military said a new operation killed 15 militants Friday as insurgents expand their battles near the Afghan border.

Shahpoor Khan, a key ally of Pakistan's embattled authorities in the district of Bajaur was assassinated in a bomb attack as he returned home after saying prayers for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, officials said.

The roadside bomb in the town of Badan, part of Pakistan's mountainous tribal belt which US officials call the most dangerous region on Earth and a headquarters for Al-Qaeda, killed Khan and wounded three others.

"The tribal leader was killed on the spot and his colleagues were seriously wounded in the blast," said local administration chief Jamil Khan.

Eid officially begins in Pakistan on Saturday but began in Afghanistan on Friday and some people in Bajaur, which lies close to the border, celebrated the start of the Muslim festival of sacrifice on Friday.

Khan's predecessor Malik Rehmatullah was killed in a suicide attack last year in Bajaur, the northern tip of the tribal belt where Islamists have stepped up attacks since Pakistan launched a major offensive further south.

Officials say their aim is to distract the army from South Waziristan, where around 30,000 troops have been pressing a US-endorsed air and ground assault for six weeks to crush homegrown Taliban in their headquarters.

Security has drastically deteriorated in Pakistan since Islamabad joined the US-led "war on terror" and hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants fled into the tribal belt after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

Pakistan has fought repeated offensives in the area and around 2,000 troops have died in battle against Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants since 2002.

Although there has been resistance in South Waziristan, many officials and analysts believe most of the estimated 10,000 Taliban guerrillas in the district have escaped into neighbouring Orakzai and North Waziristan.

The South Waziristan offensive has also seen a significant surge in suicide attacks targeting civilians and security officials in Peshawar, the sprawling city of 2.5 million that lies on the edge of the tribal belt.

The United States has welcomed Pakistan's military efforts but is reportedly ramping up pressure on the civilian government to also counter militants on its soil who launch attacks on NATO and US troops across the border in Afghanistan.

On Friday, officials said troops backed by helicopter gunships killed 15 militants in a new operation in Khyber, which lies on the main NATO supply route to Afghanistan and just outside Peshawar.

Pakistan army and paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers mounted the operation three days ago to crack down on militants, some of whom have attacked convoys supplying foreign troops fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"Security forces have taken control of Mamary, Shaheeda Killi and Meri Khel towns in the area," a military statement said.

At least 15 militants were killed and many wounded, it said. Troops also destroyed an ammunition dump.

Military spokesman Major Fazlur Rehman told AFP that three helicopter gunships pounded rebel positions and 200 soldiers took part in the operation.

Two soldiers were wounded, he said.

President Barack Obama, who has put Pakistan on the frontline of the war on Al-Qaeda, is expected to order more than 30,000 additional American troops into battle in Afghanistan when he unveils a new strategy next week.

Pakistan has stepped up warnings that the decision could destabilise its southwest province of Baluchistan, where the Taliban have a presence and separatist insurgents rose up in 2004.

"A stable Afghanistan is in Pakistan's interest -- but at the same time we also do not want our country to be destabilised," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told a press conference on Thursday.