Pakistani forces have undertaken their most concerted offensive against an expanding Taliban insurgency that has raised fears for the nuclear-armed U.S. ally’s stability and the safety of its nuclear arsenal.

The focus of the fighting has been the former tourist destination of Swat, 120 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, which the Taliban virtually took as the government alternated between inconclusive military action and peace pacts.

But tension has also been rising in South Waziristan, an al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold, with military officials saying an offensive was likely there after Swat is secured.

The United States and the Afghan government have long been pressing Pakistan to root militants out of South Waziristan and other enclaves on the Afghan border, from where the Taliban direct their Afghan war.

Militants attacked a paramilitary force camp in Jandola, 80 km (50 miles) east of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, late on Saturday, security officials said.

“Militants came in force and attacked a paramilitary camp and fighting lasted for eight hours. At least 40 militants were killed while four soldiers died,” said an intelligence official in the region who declined to be identified.

A military spokesman said the militants had been pushed back after a heavy exchange of fire. Up to 15 militants and three soldiers were killed, he said.

There was no independent confirmation of the casualty estimates.

Militant violence in Pakistan has surged since mid-2007, with attacks on the security forces, as well as on government and Western targets.

There have been eight bomb attacks in various towns and cities since the offensive in Swat and neighboring districts began in late April and the Taliban have threatened more.

EXODUS

The offensive in Swat has sparked an exodus of about 2.4 million people, according to government figures, and the country faces a long-term humanitarian crisis.

Bomb attacks in cities and the plight of the displaced could undermine public support for the offensive but for now, analysts say, the authorities are determined to defeat the Taliban in Swat.

The army said on Saturday it had regained full control of Mingora, the main town in Swat, and a top Defense Ministry official said on Sunday the military operation could be over in a two or three days.

“Only five to 10 percent of the job is remaining and hopefully within two to three days, the pockets of resistance will be cleared,” Syed Athar Ali, secretary of defense for Pakistan, said at a regional defense meeting in Singapore.

Military spokesman have been cautious about predicting how long the offensive would last, saying there was still resistance in the valley.

“It’s very difficult to give a timeline,” said chief military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas. “It’s a very big area so nobody’s in a position to give any timeline for the operation.”

On Sunday, the military urged civilians to leave the town of Charbagh, about 15 km (10 miles) north of Mingora, and lifted a curfew there and in Mingora to allow people to get out.

Pakistan is vital for U.S. plans to defeat al Qaeda and cut support for the Afghan Taliban.

The United States, which is sending thousands of reinforcements into Afghanistan, has been heartened by the offensive in Swat.

Pakistan battles Taliban; Swat offensive near end

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North Korea ramped up tensions this week with a series of provocations rarely seen since the 1950-53 Korean War, including war threats, missile launches and a nuclear test that puts it closer to having an atomic bomb.

The joint command for the 28,500 U.S. troops that support South Korea’s 670,000 soldiers has raised its alert a notch to signify a serious threat from North Korea, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

It is the highest threat level since the North’s only other nuclear test in October 2006.

North Korea looks certain to face fresh sanctions for defying a U.N. resolution by exploding a nuclear device for a second time, Western diplomat said, with a vote in the 15-nation Security Council expected next week.

North Korea could be set for further provocations that include additional short-range missile tests off its west coast, the South’s Yonhap news agency on Wednesday night quoted an unnamed government source as saying.

Analysts said the North’s saber-rattling might be partly aimed at firming leader Kim Jong-il’s grip on power and helping him draw up succession plans in Asia’s only communist dynasty after a suspected stroke in August raised questions over his rule.

Weapons experts point out that while North Korea is pushing hard to develop a nuclear arsenal, it does not have an effective way to attack with an atomic warhead or bomb.

Security Council powers have agreed in principle that North Korea must face sanctions, Western diplomats said on Wednesday.

Possible steps include a ban on importing and exporting all arms and not just heavy weapons, asset freezes and travel bans for North Korean officials, and placing more firms on a U.N. blacklist.

The measures would expand on sanctions approved by the council after Pyongyang’s 2006 nuclear test, penalties that have been widely ignored and left unenforced.

The diplomats said cargo inspections were also possible, although China, worried about instability in its neighbor and the closest Pyongyang can claim as a major ally, is reluctant.

U.S. officials have urged China to pressure North Korea to step back from nuclear brinkmanship and return to stalled disarmament talks. But many Chinese analysts say Washington overstates Beijing’s sway over Pyongyang, as well as their government’s willingness to use that influence.

“Undoubtedly, China also wants a swift and united response, but it probably won’t give the United States all it wants. China has its own worries,” said Shi Yinhong, an expert on regional security at Renmin University in Beijing.

MILITARY ON ALERT

North Korea, which has only become poorer since Kim took over in 1994, has been punished for years by sanctions and is so destitute it relies on aid to feed its 23 million people, but that has not deterred it from provocations.

The U.S. Air Force will deploy 12 advanced F-22 Raptor fighters in the coming days to a base in Okinawa, Japan. The move had been planned in advance and was not related to recent rumblings from Pyongyang, a U.S. Forces Japan spokesman said.

The South’s largest newspaper Chosun Ilbo quoted defense sources as saying the South has been preparing for contingencies such as artillery or missile strikes near a contested sea border off the west coast of the peninsula.

A spokesman for the North’s military on Wednesday said the country could not guarantee the safety of the South’s vessels in those Yellow Sea waters that have been the site of deadly naval skirmishes between the states in 1999 and 2002.

The spokesman also said South Korea’s decision to join a U.S.-led anti-proliferation initiative this week was a declaration of war making the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War invalid. Its military would also attack if the South inspects its ships.

Seoul’s financial markets, which had fallen in the wake of the nuclear test, rose on Thursday although traders said investors were still nervous about what further steps the North might take to raise tension in the economically powerful region.

North Korea kept up its steady string of strident rhetoric, saying in its official media that “a minor accidental clash could lead to nuclear war.”

“As circumstances show, provocations of war on the part of the U.S. and South Korea have gone well beyond the risky level. It’s a matter of time when a fuse for war is triggered,” the North KCNA news agency reported a commentary in a state newspaper as saying.

U.S., South Korea raise military alert on North

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“The projectile launched from North Korea today appears to have passed over towards the Pacific,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

North Korea has said it was putting a satellite into space and but regional powers say Pyongyang is testing a missile designed to carry a warhead to U.S. territory.

Pyongyang said its rockets would drop booster stages to the west and east of Japan.

North Korea has only once tested the rocket, known as the Taepodong-2 missile, in 2006 when it flew for 40 seconds and then exploded.

The first stage booster earlier dropped into the Sea of Japan.

Japan says N.Korea rocket appears to pass over Japan

North Korea launched the rocket at 11:30 a.m. local time, or 10:30 NYTime said the office of the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak. Early reports from the Japanese prime minister’s office indicated that the three-stage rocket appeared to launch successfully, with the first stage falling into the Sea of Japan and the second stage into the Pacific. South Korea vowed a “stern and resolute” response to the North’s “reckless act.”

South Korean officials, after studying the rocket’s trajectory, said it appeared to have been configured to thrust a satellite into orbit, as the North had claimed.

No debris was reported to have fallen on Japanese land. There has been no confirmation of whether the third and final stage of the launching took place.

But what may have mattered most to North Korea was simply demonstrating that it had the ability to launch a multistage rocket that could travel thousands of miles.

The motivation for the test appeared as much political as technological: After acquiring the fuel for six or more nuclear weapons during the Bush administration, and negotiating a halt of its main nuclear reactor in return for aid, North Korea’s recent statements appear to be a bid for attention from the Obama administration.

The Japanese government strongly protested the launching over its territory and asked for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

Lee Dong-kwan, a spokesman for the South Korean president, said, “North Korea’s launch of its long-range rocket poses a serious threat to the stability of the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the world at a time when the entire world is pulling its wisdom together to overcome the global economic crisis.”

Over the years the North has sometimes conducted tests as a gambit to extract concessions for more aid and fuel and to demonstrate its nuclear capabilities.

Manufacturing a nuclear warhead that is small enough, light enough and heat-resistant enough to be mounted atop a missile is far more complex than building a basic nuclear device — and intelligence officials and outside experts believe North Korea is still years from that accomplishment. Typically, it takes many years of experimentation for a nation to learn how to shrink an ungainly test device into a slim warhead.

Nonetheless, the series of tests in recent years — in 2006 and 1998 — is prompting fears of North Korean proliferation among Japanese, Chinese and Western leaders. North Korea’s missiles have ranked among its few profitable exports — Iran, Syria and Pakistan have all been among its major customers. If this long-range test ends up a success, it would presumably make the design far more attractive on the international black market.

The launching provides one of the first tests of Mr. Obama’s reaction to a provocation, on the weekend that he is scheduled to lay out for the first time, in a speech in Prague, his strategy to counter proliferation threats.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ruled out any effort to shoot down the missile if the mission appeared to be a serious effort to launch a satellite. Rather, Mr. Obama’s top aides said during last week’s Group of 20 summit meeting in London that if the missile were launched, they would seek additional sanctions against the country in the United Nations Security Council, perhaps as early as this weekend.

President Bush pressed for similar sanctions after the North’s nuclear test in October 2006, but those sanctions had little long-term effect.

“We have made very clear to the North Koreans that their missile launch is provocative,” Mr. Obama said Friday after meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France in Strasbourg, France. Mr. Obama took the issue up on Wednesday in London with President Hu Jintao of China.

While Washington has signaled calm, the Japanese response has been unusually strong. Japan deployed ships into the Sea of Japan and suggested it would try to shoot down any “debris” from the launching that threatened to hit the country. However, there is no evidence they tried to do so, and on Saturday, to the embarassment of the Japanese military, the country falsely reported twice that the missile had been launched.

With the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, reportedly recovering from a stroke last summer, the missile test may also be an effort by him — or some in the military — to demonstrate that someone is firmly in control and that the country’s missile and nuclear programs are forging ahead. In recent times top American intelligence officials have told Congress they believe Mr. Kim is back in charge of the country, but they admit considerable mystery surrounds the question of whether he has regained all of his faculties.

North Koreans Launch Rocket Over the Pacific

The Uganda-led operation targeted the brutal rebel group called Lord’s Resistance Army, which had been hiding in a Congolese national park. The rebel leaders escaped and small group of fighters rampaged through towns in northeastern Congo, hacking, burning, shooting and clubbing civilians to death, the newspaper said.

The U.S. involvement was its first helping plan such a specific military offensive with Uganda, the Times said, citing senior U.S. military officials. The officials said a team of 17 advisers and analysts from the Pentagon’s new Africa Command worked with Ugandan officers, providing satellite phones, intelligence and $1 million in fuel.

No U.S. forces were involved in ground fighting, the Times said, adding that human rights advocates and villagers said the Ugandan and Congolese troops did little to protect villagers from the attackers.

U.S. officials admitted that villagers were left unprotected.

“We provided insights and alternatives for them to consider, but their choices were their choices,” the newspaper quoted a U.S. military official who was briefed on the operation as saying, in reference to the African ground forces. “In the end, it was not our operation,” the U.S. official said.

A Ugandan military spokesman declined to discuss the U.S. involvement, saying only “There was no way to prevent these massacres.”

The rebel group remains at large, moving through villages, torch them and killing civilians, the Times said. Witnesses said they have also kidnapped hundreds of children to enslave them into their forces, it said.

Massacres follow failed U.S.-aided Uganda mission: report | International | Reuters

There were no reports of injuries from the predawn Israeli strike in the town of Rafah, along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Witnesses and Hamas Islamists said a metal foundry was damaged.

Moments earlier, a militant group with links to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement claimed responsibility for firing a rocket at southern Israel late on Wednesday.

The rocket was the first fired from Gaza since Israel and Hamas called separate ceasefires ending a 22-day Israeli offensive on Jan. 18.

It caused no casualties, but Israeli leaders facing a Feb. 10 election in a campaign focussed on security concerns, have vowed to respond to rocket salvoes its offensive in Gaza had aimed to curtail.

Israel has said it will hold Gaza’s Hamas rulers responsible for all attacks launched from the coastal territory, and had warned of a stronger response to the killing of a soldier on Tuesday in an explosion by a Gaza border fence.

“Israel will respond very severely,” an Israeli security source said on Wednesday, and added, “we haven’t seen it all,” referring to the Israeli air strikes carried out earlier in the day on tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.

“We will remain ready, with our finger on the trigger around the clock,” Benjamin Ben-Eliezer of Israel’s decision-making security cabinet said in remarks televised on Wednesday.

Hamas defended Tuesday’s bombing, citing the killing of two Palestinians by Israel last week. Israeli forces killed one Palestinian, identified by Gaza medical workers as a farmer after the bombing and later wounded a militant on a motorcycle.

VIOLENCE CLOUDS U.S. ENVOY VISIT

The violence clouded a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who said in Jerusalem on Wednesday it was “of critical importance that the ceasefire be extended and consolidated” with respect to Israel and Gaza.

Mitchell met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday and will meet Abbas on Thursday.

Western diplomats said Mitchell would not meet Hamas, a group shunned by the U.S. and Europe for it refusal to recognise Israel.

Mitchell said on Wednesday any durable truce between Israel and Hamas must end smuggling into Gaza and reopen border crossings controlled by Israel to relieve its economic blockade of the enclave where half the 1.5 million people depend on food aid.

He cited a U.S.-brokered 2005 agreement calling for forces loyal to Abbas to be deployed in Gaza. Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas’s forces in 2007, a year after the Islamists won a parliamentary election.

“President Obama has said the United States is committed to Israel’s security and to its right to defend itself against legitimate threats,” Mitchell said.

“The president has also said the United States will sustain an active commitment toward reaching the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security,” he added.

Olmert told Mitchell Israel would object to reopening any crossings with Gaza save to permit the flow of vital aid to the territory, until an Israeli soldier captured in 2006 was freed, an Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We don’t intend to open the crossings before Gilad Shalit returns home,” Ben-Eliezer, the Israeli cabinet minister said, referring to the soldier seized by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid.

Israeli leaders fear Hamas could rebuild tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border to replenish an arsenal of rockets used in attacks on its southern communities that disrupt life for tens of thousands of citizens.

Some 1,300 Palestinians, including at least 700 civilians, were killed in the offensive, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said. Israel put its death toll in the war at 10 soldiers and three civilians.

Israel strikes in Gaza as Obama envoy holds talks | Reuters

Residents near the town of Rafah fled as missiles hit tunnels through which Israel says militants smuggle arms.

The strikes came ahead of US envoy George Mitchell’s visit to promote a permanent Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Both sides declared ceasefires on 17 and 18 January to end Israel’s three-week offensive on Gaza.

The land, air and sea assault killed about 1,300 Palestinians, including 400 children. Thirteen Israelis died.

It is not clear whether there were any casualties from the airstrikes, but the latest violence is a sign of just how fragile the truce is, says the BBC’s Bethany Bell in Jerusalem.

Push for peace

Israel had responded to Tuesday’s roadside bomb – which killed one soldier and wounded three – by immediately sending troops and tanks into Gaza backed by helicopters.

Ensuing fighting around the town of Khan Younis and the Kissufim border crossing left one Palestinian dead, medical sources said.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threatened further strikes, saying the incursion was merely an initial reaction and that Israel’s full response was still to come, Haaretz newspaper reported on its website.

Both Mr Mitchell and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are in the region to push for peace talks.

Mr Mitchell, newly appointed by US President Barack Obama, is to hold talks with Mr Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, although correspondents say he is not expected to meet Hamas officials.

He has already held talks in Cairo about Egypt’s mediation efforts.

Israeli and Palestinian faction representatives have visited Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials since the ceasefires came into effect.

Hamas wants an end of Israel’s punishing blockade of Gaza. Israel wants a long-term ceasefire and curbs on Hamas rearming.

During Mr Mitchell’s visit, Israelis will want to hear what ideas the US has for advancing the peace process, as well as how Washington will tackle the Iranian nuclear issue, our correspondent says. But with Israeli elections due to take place in two weeks, it is likely the US envoy will spend much of his time listening, as Mr Obama has asked him to do, our correspondent adds.

Mr Mitchell’s visit is being seen by many Israelis as a sign of US engagement, and by others as a sign of pressure.

Tunnels working

The Gaza Strip’s southern frontier is peppered with tunnels into Egypt that were pummelled by air-strikes during Israel’s offensive.

One of Israel’s stated goals was to halt the smuggling of weapons – including rockets that were being fired against Israeli towns – into the coastal enclave through the network of tunnels.

But smuggling resumed shortly after the non-negotiated cease-fires were declared.

Residents along the border say food, fuel and other goods are moving through the several dozen tunnels that are still operational.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israeli jets target Gaza tunnels

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has expressed deep concern over the fate of the civilians – the UN says dozens are dead or injured.

And the European Union has asked the government to ensure that the civilians are spared in the fighting.

Sri Lanka’s army has pushed the rebels from their strongholds.

Mullaitivu, their last major base, fell on Sunday.

There is no way of confirming claims from either side in the conflict zone as independent journalists are barred.

Mr Ban said in a statement that he “is deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of civilians caught in intensified fighting in the Vanni region of Sri Lanka” between government troops and rebels.

‘Free movement’

He urged both sides “to accord immediate and absolute priority to ensuring the protection and well-being of civilians, including humanitarian aid workers”.

Mr Ban said the troops and the rebels should “ensure that all people, including the displaced, are treated in accordance with international humanitarian law”.

The UN secretary general also said both sides should respect “no fire zones”, “safe areas”, and civilian infrastructure including schools, medical facilities and humanitarian facilities.

The European Union meanwhile asked Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama to ensure that civilians were protected in the crossfire.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the rebels – who are on the EU list of terrorist groups – must “guarantee the free movement of the civilian population and release all child soldiers”.

The UN says dozens have been killed in the fighting and the situation is desperate.

There are thought to be about 250,000 civilians in the area in which the rebels are still operating.

A government health official in the Kilinochchi region has said over 170 civilians died in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu regions and more than 720 were admitted to hospital.

The army has denied any connection with the civilian deaths.

The army took Mullaitivu town – the last major Tiger base – on Sunday.

Separately, the rebels’ political leader, B Nadesan, has told the BBC that their top leader has not left Sri Lanka and is still leading the “freedom struggle”.

He said that reports Velupillai Prabhakaran had fled were “malicious propaganda”. He promised the rebels would fight on.

Mr Nadesan also said the Tigers would not lay down arms until the freedom and dignity of their people were guaranteed.

He shrugged off recent military setbacks which have seen the loss of the key bases of Kilinochchi, Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu.

The military says it is now advancing into a 300 sq km (115 sq mile) triangle of land in which the Tamil Tigers are still operating.

Mr Nadesan said the rebels hold twice that area.

The government has vowed to crush the rebels, who have been fighting for a separate homeland for Tamils for 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been killed during the insurgency.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Call to protect S Lanka civilians

“The secretary-general is deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of civilians caught in intensified fighting in the Vanni region of Sri Lanka,” a spokesman for Ban said in a statement Monday.

Ban called on the government and the separatist Tamil Tigers to respect “no-fire zones” and civilians areas, including schools, hospitals and humanitarian posts. He also asked both sides to allow the 250,000 civilians trapped in the fighting to move to “safe areas.”

Sri Lankan soldiers seized a key rebel stronghold in a surprise attack Sunday, even as humanitarian agencies feared for the safety of civilians. Video Watch a report on the recent fighting »

“It’s an incredibly serious situation,” James Elder, a U.N. spokesman, said Monday. “We have a very large number of people, including tens of thousands of children, trapped in a fast-shrinking conflict zone.”

Troops crossed a lagoon and entered the town of Mullaittivu before encountering heavy resistance from Tamil fighters, according to the government-run news agency.

“Our troops fought their way through a 40 km (25 mile) thick jungle track,” Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka said in a televised address Sunday.

“This is the long-awaited victory and I am happy to say that our heroic forces today captured the Mullaittivu town after 12 years,” the Sri Lanka Army chief said.

There has been no confirmation from the rebels that the strategic garrison has been overtaken.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) — commonly known as the Tamil Tigers — have fought for an independent homeland for the country’s ethnic Tamil minority since 1983. The civil war has left more than 70,000 people dead.

The rebels gained control over Mullaittivu in 1996 and established a military garrison there, according to the government.

In recent days, the military has said it has made significant progress in its campaign to recapture rebel strongholds.

Earlier this month, troops regained control of the northern town of Elephant Pass, the point at which mainland Sri Lanka links to the northern Jaffna peninsula.

It had been in rebel hands for more than nine years.

The recapture enabled the government to use a highway linking the mainland to the peninsula to move troops and supplies. Previously, it was done by air and sea.

“The area that the LTTE has dominated has shrank phenomenally,” Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, C.R Jayasinghe, told CNN. “They lost … about 90 percent of what they had.”

U.N. demands safety for Sri Lankan civilians – CNN.com

“We would … prefer a voluntary disarmament,” Mende Omalanga said. “We are campaigning for them to put [down] their guns.”

So far, about 160 of the estimated 6,500 Rwandan rebels in Congo’s eastern regions have heeded the call and laid down their arms, he said.

Omalanga said the messages in the Rwandan language of Kinawanda are being broadcast in North Kivu region during the day and night. Rebels who surrender will have the choice of returning to Rwanda or staying in Congo as refugees, Omalanga said.

He stressed that no one will be forced to return to Rwanda, where the government is working with Congo in an unprecedented partnership to combat ethnic violence.

“It is part of our deal with Rwanda,” Omalanga said. “They are happy with this program.”

He said the rebels who have surrendered so far are “on their way to Goma,” a regional capital in eastern Congo.

As part of the partnership, Rwandan authorities on Friday arrested Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, a member of the Tutsi ethnic group, raising hopes for peace in the war-ravaged region. International observers hope that Nkunda’s arrest will lead the roughly 1,500 Tutsi fighters that follow him to join with government forces.

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have traditionally been on opposite sides of the conflict in eastern Congo — which has pitted ethnic Tutsis, supported by Rwanda, against Congo-backed Hutus.

The fighting is a carry-over from the ethnic slaughter of the 1990s, when hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were killed.

A harshly worded report from the U.N. last month accused Rwanda and Congo of fighting a proxy war in the region, using the ethnic groups. It said both sides had used execution, rape and child soldiers in the fighting.

On Saturday, fighting broke out between Hutu rebels and Rwandan and Congolese troops in Congo’s Lubero region. Omalanga said nine Hutu rebels were killed and one Congolese soldier was wounded.

United Nations spokesman Jean Paul Deitrich also confirmed nine Hutu tribal fighters were killed in the Saturday clashes in Lubero, about 124 miles (200 kilometers) northeast of Goma.

Omalanga said the coalition — the Rwandan and Congolese forces — were reacting to the rebels who “shot first.”

Congo to rebels: Surrender now – CNN.com