Pakistan Sends Troops to Halt Taliban Advance

Bomb targets convoy traveling to school's opening ceremony

(NEWSER) - Three US soldiers were among at least 10 people killed when the Pakistani Taliban targeted the opening ceremony of a girls' school today. At least 70 people, including many schoolgirls, were injured when a roadside blast hit a group traveling in a convoy guarded by a military escort, the BBC reports. The American soldiers were said to have been training Pakistani troops in counterinsurgency. More»

(NEWSER) - Pakistan's government abandoned its rapidly decaying truce with the Taliban today, al-Jazeera reports, with government forces openly battling militants in several parts of the Swat Valley following a Taliban attack on an army convoy yesterday. Tens of thousands of residents have already fled the area, and the government said it expects 500,000 more today, the AP adds. More»

Militant presence in Buner violates peace agreement, says military

(NEWSER) - Pakistan has deployed troops and begun airstrikes against suspected Taliban sites in the Buner district, uncomfortably close to the capital. A military spokesman said some 500 militants are in the district, just over 60 miles from Islamabad, violating a peace agreement, the BBC reports. Meanwhile, tens of thousands have fled the nearby region of Lower Dir; the military says it's finished a two-day operation against militants there, the New York Times reports. Both areas border the Taliban-dominated Swat Valley. More»

Advances pose 'mortal threat' to US security, says Clinton

(NEWSER) - The Taliban are expanding their reach in Pakistan and are now perched about 70 miles from the capital of Islamabad. The militants, recently given control of the Swat Valley by the government, took over the neighboring Buner district last night. Hillary Clinton told a House panel today that the "Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and to the extremists,” a development she said posed a "mortal threat" to US and world security, the New York Times reports. More»

Commandos clear compound after 8-day standoff, 35-hour battle

(NEWSER) - Soldiers completed the takeover of the Red Mosque early today, removing the final militants who had occupied the Islamabad compound during an 8-day siege. At least 80 were killed and 33 wounded in the past week, including 50 radicals and 10 soldiers in the climactic 35-hour final assault. "Now it's mopping up," said Pakistan's PM. More»