Pakistani general's home attacked

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Gunmen opened fire Friday at the home of the army commander heading the military offensive against Taliban militants in Pakistan's northwest, sparking a gunbattle just hours after a suicide attack at a police checkpoint, officials said.

The military, meanwhile, sent jet fighters Friday to bomb suspected militant strongholds in the Bajur tribal region — extending its military operations against the Taliban in the northwest. Casualty figures were not immediately known.

The overnight attacks in Peshawar city were the latest of several targeting security forces and blamed on militants retaliating for the military's assault on Taliban militants in the nearby Swat Valley region. More than 60 people have died in the wave of attacks since May 27.

The assault on the Peshawar home of Lt. Gen. Masood Aslam triggered a gunbattle that killed two suspected militants, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the provincial information minister.

Hours earlier, a coordinated suicide attack on a police checkpoint in the city killed one officer and wounded a dozen other people. The assailants lobbed a grenade at the checkpoint late Thursday night and when police rushed to respond, a suicide bomber ran forward and blew himself up, said police Superintendent Nisar Marwad.

"We are faced with a Baghdad-like situation, and now we must think to divide the city of Peshawar in different zones like Baghdad to secure the city," Hussain told The Associated Press, referring to parts of the Iraqi capital that are heavily fortified to guard against insurgent attacks.

The Peshawar attacks came after Pakistani troops and militants engaged in multiple battles as fighting in the northwest spread and intensified.

Local government official Mohammed Jamil said military jets began bombarding militant positions Friday in Charming, a town in the Bajur region east of Swat on the border with Afghanistan. The army fought a monthslong operation against the Taliban there earlier this year. The military claimed victory, but said pockets of militants remained.

Jamil said he had no information on casualties.

In the Hangu region bordering North Waziristan, suspected militants detonated a roadside bomb Friday as the district police chief drove past, killing the chief and four other police officers, said Farid Khan, a police official.