Pakistan bombs militants; U.S. commander arrives

By Sahibzada Bahauddin

KHAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani aircraft bombed militant strongholds on Tuesday killing 14 insurgents and a suicide car-bomber attacked a security force camp killing three soldiers, military officials said.

The violence came as the top U.S. military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, arrived in Pakistan where stepped up U.S. strikes on militants on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border have angered Islamabad and strained relations between the allies.

U.S. officials say Taliban and al Qaeda-linked fighters use ethnic Pashutn tribal regions on the Pakistani side of the border as a springboard for attacks into Afghanistan.

Pakistani forces launched offensives against militants in two parts of the northwest in August and the government says hundreds have been killed.

But an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan has raised fears for its prospects, putting pressure on Pakistan to do more and leading to more cross-border U.S. strikes on militants.

Mullen said this month he was not convinced Western forces were winning in Afghanistan and he was "looking at a new, more comprehensive strategy" that would cover both sides of the border, including Pakistan's tribal areas.

Pakistan's new government has committed itself to the U.S.-led campaign against Islamist militancy even though it is deeply unpopular.

But it objects to cross-border strikes and protested against a bloody helicopter-borne ground assault by U.S. commandos in South Waziristan this month. There have been five U.S. missile strikes this month, killing militants and civilians.

A military spokesman said on Tuesday aggression across the border would be confronted.

"If any incursion is made against our soldiers, our checkposts, then we reserve the right to defend them," said military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas.

JETS BOMB MILITANTS

Pakistani security officials said on Monday firing by Pakistani troops forced two U.S. military helicopters to turn back to Afghanistan after they crossed into Pakistani territory, although the U.S. and Pakistani militaries denied it.

There were no reports of U.S. strikes in Pakistan on Tuesday and Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, said in London he did not believe the United States would carry out more raids.

Meanwhile, Pakistani aircraft bombed al Qaeda and Taliban militants in three areas in the northwestern region of Bajaur as ground troops searched house-to-house. Fourteen militants and a soldier were killed, a military spokesman said.

Later, a suicide car bomber attacked a military camp in the Swat Valley, in North West Frontier Province. Other militants then attacked the camp with rocket-propelled grenades.