Pakistan offensive 'kills 34 militants'
Pakistani officials said yesterday that troops backed by warplanes and helicopter gun ships killed 34 militants in the wake of a suicide attack in a district near the Afghan border.
Meanwhile, at least 12 people have been killed in two days of violence in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, police say.
The killings appear to be the result of targeted attacks by rival ethnic and political groups, they say.
Dozens of people have been killed in similar attacks across the city over the past few weeks.
Police say sporadic gunfire is still continuing in parts of Karachi, a city of 17 million people and the country's financial hub.
The latest spate of killings started when ethnic Pashtun activists working for the Awami National Party (ANP) were attacked by unknown gunmen on Friday.
The attack was followed by shootings across the Pashtun-dominated Orangi district, in western Karachi.
The Karachi chief of the ANP, Shahid Syed, blamed activists loyal to the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) for the attack.
Pakistan's Frontier Corps have stepped up an offensive targeting Taliban havens in Bajaur district and four soldiers have been wounded in gunfights, a paramilitary official said.
Pakistan intensified the raids around the towns of Mamoond and Salarzai towns after a suicide bomber attacked a military checkpoint, killing 17 people in the district's main town of Khar on Saturday.
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