Pakistan goes on attack

Pakistan goes on attack

Militant threats prompt shelling of tribal areas

By KATHY GANNON, AP

KHYBER AGENCY, PAKISTAN -- Pakistan's newly elected government launched the first major assault in the country's volatile northwest yesterday, destroying a militant leader's headquarters and shelling suspected hideouts of other fighters.

The offensive backed the government's calls for peace deals in the tribal areas along the Afghan border with the threat of forceful action against militants.

With growing militant threats to the nearby Pakistani city of Peshawar -- and to the key Khyber supply route -- Pakistan took action.

Late Friday, 700 troops from the paramilitary Frontier Corps moved into Khyber in preparation for the offensive, a round-the-clock curfew was imposed in the Bara area, and a heavy contingent of troops blocked the main road into Khyber, local officials said.

By yesterday afternoon, the Frontier Corps began shelling suspected militant hideouts in the mountains, a local official said. BLEW UP HEADQUARTERS Authorities blew up the headquarters of militant leader Menghal Bagh in a scene broadcast on national television. Bagh fled to the remote Tirah Valley along the Afghan border, a military intelligence official said