Bomb kills gov't official, family in Pakistan

PARACHINAR, Pakistan — A bomb ripped through a government official's house in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing him and his five family members in an attack that police said was in retaliation for military operations targeting Taliban in the area.

The military stepped up its strikes in Kurram after many militants fled there following a separate offensive launched in nearby South Waziristan in mid-October. Both areas are in Pakistan's lawless tribal region near the Afghan border.

Sunday's attack targeted the house of Sarbraz Saddiqi, a government official in Kurram, said police official Naeemullah Khan. Police are still investigating whether the bomb was detonated by a timer or by remote control, he said.

Many Taliban militants are also believed to have fled to North Waziristan, another area in Pakistan's tribal region dominated by jihadi groups launching cross-border attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Washington has pressed Pakistan to target such groups but has received a reluctant response, as Islamabad has continued to concentrate on militants that pose a domestic threat.

The U.S. has responded by relying more heavily on drone missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas. A suspected missile strike killed three people in North Waziristan on Saturday, said two Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The U.S. rarely discusses the covert program but has in the past said it has taken out several top al-Qaida operatives. The identities of those killed in the latest strike were not immediately available.

Pakistan publicly opposes the strikes but is believed to secretly aid them.

Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar in Mir Ali contributed to this report.