Gunman kills two U.S. airmen at Frankfurt airport (Reuters)

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German police arrested a man on Wednesday after two U.S. airmen were shot dead and two wounded in an incident on a U.S. Army bus at Frankfurt airport, authorities said.

Security round the airport was tightened and an investigation into the "terrible, senseless crime" was under way, said Boris Rhein, interior minister for Hesse state.

"Whether the incident was linked to terrorism I cannot say at this stage," he told reporters.

The suspected gunman was apparently a Kosovo national, he said. Police said he was 21.

A spokesman for Frankfurt airport operator Fraport said the shooting took place in a U.S. Army bus in front of Terminal 2. U.S. President Barack Obama said he was outraged by the attack.

Authorities in Kosovo believed they knew the identity of the suspected gunman but could not confirm it yet, Kosovo Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi told Reuters in Pristina.

A police official identified the man as Arif Uka from the city of Mitrovica but no official confirmation was given yet.

"The government of the Republic of Kosovo is extremely touched and strongly condemns the killing of two American citizens and the wounding of two others by a citizen from Kosovo that happened today in Germany," the government said in a statement.

The United States has had troops in Kosovo since 1999, when a NATO bombing campaign pushed out Serbian forces. The U.S. troops there now are helping to oversee a fragile peace that has held since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Major Beverly Mock, spokeswoman for the U.S. Air Force at Rammstein air base in Germany, said the identities of the dead airmen had not yet been confirmed.

"The German authorities have the shooter in custody," she said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking in Berlin, told a news conference: "We don't know the details but I would like to express how upset I am. We have to do everything we can to find out what happened."

(Reporting by Tilman Blasshofer; additional reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina, Annika Breidthardt and Sarah Marsh in Berlin and Maria Sheahan in Frankfurt; writing by John Stonestreet; editing by Angus MacSwan)

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New Zealand quake kills at least 65 (Reuters)

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – A strong earthquake killed at least 65 people in New Zealand's second-biggest city of Christchurch on Tuesday, with more casualties expected as rescuers worked into the night to find scores of people trapped inside collapsed buildings.

It was the second quake to hit the city of almost 400,000 people in five months, and New Zealand's most deadly natural disaster for 80 years.

"We may well be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day...The death toll I have at the moment is 65 and that may rise," New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told local TV.

"It's hard to describe. What was a vibrant city a few hours ago has been brought to its knees," added Key, who had flown to his home town of Christchurch, where he still has family.

The 6.3 magnitude quake struck at lunchtime, when streets and shops thronged with people and offices were still occupied.

Christchurch's mayor described the city, a historic tourist town popular with overseas students, as a war zone.

"There will be deaths, there will be a lot of injuries, there will be a lot of heartbreak in this city," Mayor Bob Parker told Australian TV by phone.

He told local radio that up to 200 could be trapped in buildings but later revised down to around 100 or so.

The quake is the country's worst natural disaster since a 1931 quake in the North Island city of Napier which killed 256.

Christchurch Hospital saw an influx of injured residents.

"They are largely crushes and cuts types of injuries and chest pain as well," said David Meates, head of the Canterbury Health Board. Some of the more seriously injured could be evacuated to other cities, he added.

TRAPPED

All army medical staff have been mobilized, while several hundred troops were helping with the rescue, officials said.

A woman trapped in one of the buildings said she was terrified and waiting for rescuers to reach her six hours after the quake, which was followed by at least 20 aftershocks.

"I thought the best place was under the desk but the ceiling collapsed on top, I can't move and I'm just terrified," office worker Anne Voss told TV3 news by mobile phone.

Christchurch has been described as a little piece of England. It has an iconic cathedral, now largely destroyed, and a river called the Avon. It had many historic stone buildings, and is popular with English-language students and also with tourists as a springboard for tours of the scenic South Island.

Twelve Japanese students at a school in Christchurch were still missing after a building collapse, an official told Reuters in Japan. Nine Japanese students and two teachers from the same group had already been rescued or accounted for.

Emergency shelters had also been set up in local schools and at a race course, as night approached. Helicopters dumped water to try to douse a fire in one tall office building. A crane helped rescue workers trapped in another office block.

"I was in the square right outside the cathedral -- the whole front has fallen down and there were people running from there. There were people inside as well," said John Gurr, a camera technician who was in the city center when the quake hit.

"A lady grabbed hold of me to stop falling over...We just got blown apart. Colombo Street, the main street, is just a mess...There's lots of water everywhere, pouring out of the ground," he said.

Emergency crews picked through rubble under bright lights as night fell, including a multi-storey office building whose floors appeared to have pancaked on top of each other.

SILT, SAND AND GRAVEL

Christchurch is built on silt, sand and gravel, with a water table beneath. In an earthquake, the water rises, mixing with the sand and turning the ground into a swamp and swallowing up sections of road and entire cars.

TV footage showed sections of road that had collapsed into a milky, sand-colored lake right beneath the surface. One witness described the footpaths as like "walking on sand."

Unlike last year's even stronger tremor, which struck early in the morning when streets were virtually empty, people were walking or driving along streets when the shallow tremor struck, sending awnings and the entire faces of buildings crashing down.

Police said debris had rained down on two buses, crushing them, but there was no word on any casualties.

The quake hit at 12:51 pm (2351 GMT Monday) at a depth of only 4 km (2.5 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

TALK OF POST-QUAKE RATE CUT

The quake helped knock the New Zealand dollar down to $0.75, about 1.8 percent off late U.S. levels, on fears the damage could dent confidence in the already fragile economy.

Westpac Bank also raised the possibility that the central bank could cut interest rates over the next few weeks to shore up confidence after the quake, while other banks pushed out their expectations for the next rate hike. ANZ now expects the central bank to be on hold until the first quarter of 2012.

Shares in Australian banks and insurers, which typically have large operations in New Zealand, fell after the quake.

The tremor was centered about 10 km (six miles) southwest of Christchurch, which had suffered widespread damage during last September's 7.1 magnitude quake but no deaths.

New Zealand sits between the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates and records on average more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which about 20 would normally top magnitude 5.0.

(Additional reporting by Bruce Hextall, Michael Smith and Cecile Lefort in Sydney; Saika Takano in Tokyo; Writing by Mark Bendeich and Ed Davies; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)

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First Pakistan drone attack in weeks kills seven (Reuters)

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) – A U.S. drone strike killed at least seven people on Monday in a tribal region along Pakistan's western border, Pakistani officials said, the first such attack in a month as a diplomatic feud strains U.S.-Pakistani ties.

At least four missiles were fired from the unmanned aircraft at a suspected militant training center in Azam Warsak, just west of Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal agency, intelligence officials in South Waziristan said.

"According to initial reports there were foreigners among the dead," one of the officials said.

A second official said the foreign nationals killed included three people from Turkmenistan and two Arab nationals.

It is the first time since January 23 that intelligence officials have reported a U.S. drone attack, marking a resumption of a campaign that has become the centerpiece of U.S. efforts to halt militants launching attacks on its soldiers in Afghanistan.

Many analysts believe Washington halted the attacks for weeks to avoid further inflaming anti-American fury in Pakistan just as it pressures Islamabad to release Raymond Davis, a U.S. consulate employee imprisoned after shooting two Pakistanis last month in what he said was an attempted robbery.

Others speculate the pause was due to poor weather or an inability to find reliable targets as militants hunt down Pakistanis they believe are feeding intelligence information.

Washington, which provides Pakistan with billions of dollars a year in military and civilian aid, is leaning hard on the government of President Asif Ali Zardari to release Davis on grounds the U.S. national is shielded by diplomatic immunity.

Yet neither can the government afford to unleash popular fury in a case that has galvanized anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. Protesters have burned U.S. flags and demanded the Davis be tried for murder in local courts.

The drone strikes, which are not publically acknowledged by either country, are another delicate situation for the vulnerable Zardari government, battling an insurgency of its own and struggling to hold together a fragile coalition.

The attacks are seen as a risk and a necessity for Pakistan, under pressure its chief ally in the West to do against militants but also facing mounting resentment from Pakistanis who decry the government for bowing to U.S. wishes.

There is also debate over the effectiveness of the strikes. While the drone strikes have killed al Qaeda and Taliban figures, many of senior militants are living in cities like Quetta or Karachi that Pakistan has made off-limits to strikes.

(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony in ISLAMABAD; writing by Missy Ryan; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Sanjeev Miglani)

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Car bomb north of Iraqi capital kills 7 (AP)

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq – An Iraqi spokesman says a car bomb north of Baghdad has killed seven people.

The spokesman for the Diyala province police, Maj. Ghalib al-Karkhi, says Thursday's blast took place in the town of Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles (90 kilometers) north of Baghdad. He says 24 people were wounded.

Diyala province was once one of the strongholds of al-Qaida, and insurgents there still stage frequent attacks despite improved security in much of the country.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Kurdish security guards opened fire on a crowd of protesters calling for political reforms in northern Iraq, killing at least two people, officials said, showing even war-weary Iraq cannot escape the unrest roiling the Middle East.

The protest in Sulaimaniyah was the most violent in a wave of demonstrations that extended to the southern cities of Kut, Nasir and Basra.

Iraq has seen small-scale demonstrations almost daily in recent weeks, mainly centered in the impoverished southern provinces and staged by Iraqis angry over a lack of basic services like electricity and clean drinking water.

The hundreds of Kurds demonstrating in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Thursday, demanded political reforms from the regional government in the semiautonomous territory.

Although Kurds generally enjoy a higher standard of living than the rest of Iraq, many have grown tired of the tight grip with which the ruling parties control the region and the economy.

The protesters moved from the center of the city to the headquarters of Kurdish President Massoud Barzani's political party, where some protesters threw stones at the building.

Kurdish security guards on the roof then opened fire on the demonstrators, sending people fleeing for cover.

A local police and hospital official both said two people were killed in the incident, and the medical official said 47 people were injured. Both the officials said the deaths and injuries were the result of shootings. Neither wanted to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

An Associated Press reporter on the scene saw one teenager shot in the head and being carried away by policemen on the street who were trying to help the protesters.

In the southern city of Basra, about 600 people gathered in front of the provincial headquarters, facing off against police protecting the building. With the exception of some pushing and shoving, witnesses said the protest was largely peaceful.

"We are demanding that the Basra governor be fired because he has not done anything good for Basra," said Mohammed Ali Jasim, a 50-year-old father of nine who came out to the protest in Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.

Dozens of angry protesters also stormed the municipal building and set it on fire in the small town of Nasir, some 170 miles (270 kilometers) south of Baghdad, a police official in the nearby provincial capital of Nasiriyah said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Five policemen were wounded after protesters hurled stones at the building and five protesters were arrested before a curfew was imposed on the town, the officer said.

A day earlier in the city of Kut, about 2,000 stone-throwing demonstrators attacked local government offices, setting fire to some buildings, including the governor's house. Kut is 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.

The spokeswoman for Wasit province, Sondos al-Dahabi, said Thursday that three demonstrators were shot and killed, while the top health official for the province, Diaa al-Aboudi, said he was only aware of one fatality, an Iraqi soldier.

Iraq is one of the few countries with a democratically elected government in the Middle East but leaders here have not been immune from the anger engulfing the region. Iraqis have a long list of grievances against their leaders, including electricity that sometimes works only a few hours a day, unemployment that runs as high as 30 percent and rampant corruption.

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Crocodile kills boy in Outback community (AP)

DARWIN, Australia – A crocodile attacked and killed a 14-year-old boy who was swimming in a creek in an Outback Aboriginal community, police said Monday.
Police, park rangers and residents spent Monday combing the remote area for any trace of the boy, who was attacked while playing in the creek with his brothers in the Northern Territory's Milingimbi community, east of Darwin, on Sunday.
Northern Territory police Superintendent Helen Braam said officials were interviewing the young Aboriginal witnesses, who speak limited English, to get more information on what happened.
"As you can imagine, the community is quite devastated and shocked by what's happened," Braam said.
Both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles were hunted to near extinction in Australia, but have become plentiful in the tropical north since they became protected by federal law in 1971.
The Northern Territory is estimated to have more than 80,000 saltwater crocodiles, which can grow up to 23 feet (seven meters) long and are the world's largest reptile. They are far more likely to attack humans than the smaller freshwater crocodiles that also live in the region.
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Afghan police: Suicide bombing in east kills 8 (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber detonated a car rigged with explosives in the eastern Afghan city of Khost Friday morning, killing at least eight people and injuring scores of others, police said.

Elsewhere in the east, more than 30 insurgents were killed in an overnight operation by NATO forces in Kunar province, a hotbed of the insurgency. Also, a NATO service member was killed Friday in an explosion in the south.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing in Khost, which targeted a police station. Two policemen, a patrolman and an officer, were among the dead, said Abdul-Hakim Isaqzai, the police chief of Khost province, which borders Pakistan.

"It was very powerful, It shook Khost city," he said about the blast.

The explosion, in a crowded area of the city, damaged cars, houses and shops and sent a pillar of thick black smoke into the air.

"The blast was very large. It went off in the heart of the city near a police checkpoint," 35-year-old Noorullah of Khost told The Associated Press. "There is broken glass in the residential areas around the bombing, Even people in their houses were injured by broken glass."

Noorullah, who uses one name, said city residents were expressing fear and disappointment about the continuing violence.

"Continually we are facing this disaster," he said, adding that he has little faith in the ability of the Afghan government's peace council to reconcile with insurgents. "The government officials in Khost province — they are so scared. They cannot leave their offices, their compounds, to go out to talk to the people."

President Hamid Karzai's office condemned the attack.

Amir Pacha, director of hospitals in the province, said at least 30 other people, mostly civilians, were wounded in the blast.

In December 2009, a suicide bomber, who was a double agent, killed seven CIA employees at a U.S. intelligence base in Khost.

Farther north along the Afghan-Pakistan border, pro-government security forces on Thursday captured a leader of Hizb-i-Islami, a militant group made up of loyalists of regional warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the coalition said. A suspected insurgent also was captured and a local resident who threatened security forces was killed in the operation in Khogyani district of Nangarhar province, NATO added.

The insurgent leader, who was captured, led a group of insurgents responsible for bomb attacks against coalition and Afghan forces and provided food and shelter to five fighters traveling from Pakistan, NATO said. Weapons, a roadside bomb and narcotics were confiscated at the site.

Even farther north, coalition troops patrolling from the air spotted a group of what they identified to be armed insurgents and fired on them in Ghazi Abad district of Kunar province, kicking off a more than four-hour battle late Thursday that left more than 30 insurgents dead.

The coalition after they opened fire, a large number of armed individuals emerged from a nearby building and they also were targeted and killed.

In southern Afghanistan, a coalition service member died Friday in a roadside bombing, NATO said. The coalition did not disclose any other details about the death, which brings to 17 the number of coalition troops who have died in Afghanistan so far this month.

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Car bomb blast in Iraq kills 13, wounds 33: sources (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb explosion killed at least 13 people and wounded 33 others in the Iraqi town of Muqdadiya on Thursday, security sources said.

The blast struck an automobile sales center in Muqdadiya, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, the sources said.

(Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Jim Loney)

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Car bomb north of Iraqi capital kills 7 (AP)

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq – An Iraqi spokesman says a car bomb north of Baghdad has killed seven people.

The spokesman for the Diyala province police, Maj. Ghalib al-Karkhi, says Thursday's blast took place in the town of Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles (90 kilometers) north of Baghdad. He says 24 people were wounded.

Diyala province was once one of the strongholds of al-Qaida, and insurgents there still stage frequent attacks despite improved security in much of the country.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Kurdish security guards opened fire on a crowd of protesters calling for political reforms in northern Iraq, killing at least two people, officials said, showing even war-weary Iraq cannot escape the unrest roiling the Middle East.

The protest in Sulaimaniyah was the most violent in a wave of demonstrations that extended to the southern cities of Kut, Nasir and Basra.

Iraq has seen small-scale demonstrations almost daily in recent weeks, mainly centered in the impoverished southern provinces and staged by Iraqis angry over a lack of basic services like electricity and clean drinking water.

The hundreds of Kurds demonstrating in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Thursday, demanded political reforms from the regional government in the semiautonomous territory.

Although Kurds generally enjoy a higher standard of living than the rest of Iraq, many have grown tired of the tight grip with which the ruling parties control the region and the economy.

The protesters moved from the center of the city to the headquarters of Kurdish President Massoud Barzani's political party, where some protesters threw stones at the building.

Kurdish security guards on the roof then opened fire on the demonstrators, sending people fleeing for cover.

A local police and hospital official both said two people were killed in the incident, and the medical official said 47 people were injured. Both the officials said the deaths and injuries were the result of shootings. Neither wanted to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

An Associated Press reporter on the scene saw one teenager shot in the head and being carried away by policemen on the street who were trying to help the protesters.

In the southern city of Basra, about 600 people gathered in front of the provincial headquarters, facing off against police protecting the building. With the exception of some pushing and shoving, witnesses said the protest was largely peaceful.

"We are demanding that the Basra governor be fired because he has not done anything good for Basra," said Mohammed Ali Jasim, a 50-year-old father of nine who came out to the protest in Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.

Dozens of angry protesters also stormed the municipal building and set it on fire in the small town of Nasir, some 170 miles (270 kilometers) south of Baghdad, a police official in the nearby provincial capital of Nasiriyah said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Five policemen were wounded after protesters hurled stones at the building and five protesters were arrested before a curfew was imposed on the town, the officer said.

A day earlier in the city of Kut, about 2,000 stone-throwing demonstrators attacked local government offices, setting fire to some buildings, including the governor's house. Kut is 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.

The spokeswoman for Wasit province, Sondos al-Dahabi, said Thursday that three demonstrators were shot and killed, while the top health official for the province, Diaa al-Aboudi, said he was only aware of one fatality, an Iraqi soldier.

Iraq is one of the few countries with a democratically elected government in the Middle East but leaders here have not been immune from the anger engulfing the region. Iraqis have a long list of grievances against their leaders, including electricity that sometimes works only a few hours a day, unemployment that runs as high as 30 percent and rampant corruption.

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Car bomb north of Iraqi capital kills 7 (AP)

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq – An Iraqi spokesman says a car bomb north of Baghdad has killed seven people.

The spokesman for the Diyala province police, Maj. Ghalib al-Karkhi, says Thursday's blast took place in the town of Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles (90 kilometers) north of Baghdad. He says 24 people were wounded.

Diyala province was once one of the strongholds of al-Qaida, and insurgents there still stage frequent attacks despite improved security in much of the country.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Kurdish security guards opened fire on a crowd of protesters calling for political reforms in northern Iraq, killing at least two people, officials said, showing even war-weary Iraq cannot escape the unrest roiling the Middle East.

The protest in Sulaimaniyah was the most violent in a wave of demonstrations that extended to the southern cities of Kut, Nasir and Basra.

Iraq has seen small-scale demonstrations almost daily in recent weeks, mainly centered in the impoverished southern provinces and staged by Iraqis angry over a lack of basic services like electricity and clean drinking water.

The hundreds of Kurds demonstrating in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Thursday, demanded political reforms from the regional government in the semiautonomous territory.

Although Kurds generally enjoy a higher standard of living than the rest of Iraq, many have grown tired of the tight grip with which the ruling parties control the region and the economy.

The protesters moved from the center of the city to the headquarters of Kurdish President Massoud Barzani's political party, where some protesters threw stones at the building.

Kurdish security guards on the roof then opened fire on the demonstrators, sending people fleeing for cover.

A local police and hospital official both said two people were killed in the incident, and the medical official said 47 people were injured. Both the officials said the deaths and injuries were the result of shootings. Neither wanted to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

An Associated Press reporter on the scene saw one teenager shot in the head and being carried away by policemen on the street who were trying to help the protesters.

In the southern city of Basra, about 600 people gathered in front of the provincial headquarters, facing off against police protecting the building. With the exception of some pushing and shoving, witnesses said the protest was largely peaceful.

"We are demanding that the Basra governor be fired because he has not done anything good for Basra," said Mohammed Ali Jasim, a 50-year-old father of nine who came out to the protest in Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.

Dozens of angry protesters also stormed the municipal building and set it on fire in the small town of Nasir, some 170 miles (270 kilometers) south of Baghdad, a police official in the nearby provincial capital of Nasiriyah said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Five policemen were wounded after protesters hurled stones at the building and five protesters were arrested before a curfew was imposed on the town, the officer said.

A day earlier in the city of Kut, about 2,000 stone-throwing demonstrators attacked local government offices, setting fire to some buildings, including the governor's house. Kut is 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.

The spokeswoman for Wasit province, Sondos al-Dahabi, said Thursday that three demonstrators were shot and killed, while the top health official for the province, Diaa al-Aboudi, said he was only aware of one fatality, an Iraqi soldier.

Iraq is one of the few countries with a democratically elected government in the Middle East but leaders here have not been immune from the anger engulfing the region. Iraqis have a long list of grievances against their leaders, including electricity that sometimes works only a few hours a day, unemployment that runs as high as 30 percent and rampant corruption.

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Car bomb blast in Iraq kills 13, wounds 33: sources (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb explosion killed at least 13 people and wounded 33 others in the Iraqi town of Muqdadiya on Thursday, security sources said.

The blast struck an automobile sales center in Muqdadiya, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, the sources said.

(Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Jim Loney)

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Car bomb blast in Iraq kills 13, wounds 33: sources (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb explosion killed at least 13 people and wounded 33 others in the Iraqi town of Muqdadiya on Thursday, security sources said.

The blast struck an automobile sales center in Muqdadiya, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, the sources said.

(Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Jim Loney)

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Kandahar attack kills 3, injured 26: Afghan official (AFP)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – Three people were killed, including two policemen, and 26 wounded after an attack claimed by the Taliban on police headquarters in the Afghan city of Kandahar, an official said.
Nine children were among those hurt in the violence, said Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar, which is in the highly volatile south of the war-torn country.
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Teen suicide bomber strikes Pakistan army facility and kills 20 - Reuters

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD | Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:03am EST

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A boy in a school uniform blew himself up at a Pakistani army recruitment center in the troubled northwest region on Thursday, killing 20 cadets, military and security officials said.

The attack challenged official assertions that army offensives had weakened al Qaeda-linked Taliban militants waging a campaign to destabilize Pakistan's U.S.-backed government.

The brazen bombing suggested militants are regrouping after a lull in major attacks. Militant operations in recent months have been mostly sectarian and have not focused on military targets.

"The bomber struck recruits when cadets were busy in their morning training," a military official told Reuters. At least 20 people were wounded.

The boy apparently walked into the compound, officials said.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack at the Punjab Regiment Center in the town of Mardan.

"Such cowardly attacks cannot affect the morale of the security agencies and the resolve of the nation to eradicate terrorism," he said in a statement.

Gilani's government is under pressure on several fronts. It is trying to revive a stagnant economy and public discontent is growing over official corruption, rampant poverty and power cuts.

The United States, which provides billions of dollars in aid, wants Pakistan to step up its fight against militant groups who cross the border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.

But Pakistan's military is already stretched fighting homegrown militants.

(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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