Pakistani troops backed by helicopters and artillery attacked suspected militant hideouts in tribal areas close to the Afghan border, killing 40 rebels and arresting 30, the army said yesterday. At least eight soldiers also died.
In the capital, meanwhile, police fired tear gas at protesters who were demanding Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf step down -- a sign of rising tensions ahead of parliamentary elections next month that many predict will weaken the former army commander's grip on power.
"This country is going into deep crisis and it's all because of one man -- Musharraf," protester Fatimah Ihsan said. "He must go."
The fighting took place in South Waziristan, a militant stronghold where the rebel leader accused by the CIA and Pakistan's government of masterminding last month's assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is believed to be hiding.
The militants were killed in a series of raids on Wednesday and early yesterday in the mountainous region, the military said.
Three districts in South Waziristan "had been cleared of militant strongholds and hide-outs" as a result of the operations, the military said in a statement, adding that 40 rebels had been killed and 30 others arrested.
Eight soldiers also died, it said, giving no more details.
South Waziristan is a semiautonomous tribal region where the central government has never had much control. It is home to scores of al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion there in 2001.
The scuffles in Islamabad took place close to the house of the ousted Supreme Court chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, who has been held incommunicado since Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Nov. 3.
About 250 lawyers and other anti-government activists rallied there to demand his release, shouting "Go Musharraf go!" as they tried to push their way through a maze of barbed wire and a cordon of riot police. Police fired tear gas at the protesters, who responded with volleys of stones. There were no reports of injuries or arrests.
Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister who returned from exile in November to lead a campaign against Musharraf, accused him of failing to bring peace in the tribal regions.
"The problem in the tribal regions will not be solved through the use of bullets, guns and gunship helicopters, but we need to win the hearts and minds of people there," Sharif told reporters in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier province.
Meanwhile, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged the British government to pull Scotland Yard from the "flawed Pakistani investigation" into Bhutto's assassination.
"Pakistan's investigation into Bhutto's murder lacks independence, transparency and credibility," it said. "Scotland Yard ... should not tarnish its reputation by lending its imprimatur to this dubious inquiry."
The group urged the US, Britain, and other countries to press Pakistan to accept a UN probe.
Musharraf has rejected calls for an independent, UN-led international inquiry.
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