Pakistani party to abandon ruling coalition

[December 14, 2010]  ISLAMABAD (AP) -- A key partner in Pakistan's ruling coalition says it is defecting to the opposition, leaving the U.S.-allied government one vote short of a majority in the National Assembly.

The announcement by the Islamist party Jamiat Ulema Islam threatens the existence of the weak civilian government whose cooperation is critical to America's war effort in neighboring Afghanistan.

JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said Tuesday the party is leaving because one of its ministers was sacked over a scandal involving Muslim pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia arranged by the government.

The next session of parliament is slated for Dec. 20, giving the ruling Pakistan People's Party some time to cobble together a new coalition.

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THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.
AP's earlier story is below.

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A suspected U.S. missile strike killed four militants in a tribal region near the Afghan border on Tuesday, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The missiles hit a vehicle believed to be carrying the four suspected militants from North Waziristan's main town of Miran Shah to Tappi, an area surrounded by mountains, said the two officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The exact identities of the dead were not immediately known. Information from the tribal region is difficult to verify independently because access to the area is restricted and, due to the prevalence of militant groups there, security is tenuous at best.

North Waziristan has been the focus of nearly all of the 100 or so U.S. missile strikes that have landed in Pakistan this year. Unlike other parts of the northwest, Pakistan's army has yet to wage an offensive against militants in North Waziristan.

Analysts suspect that is because the groups based there are focused on the war in Afghanistan, not attacking the Pakistani state. The territory hit Tuesday is under the control of warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who is heavily involved in sending militants to Afghanistan.

North Waziristan also is a major base of the Haqqani network, a militant group that some believe is the biggest threat to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistan protests the missile strikes publicly, but is believed to secretly support them. The U.S. rarely discusses the covert, CIA-run program.

Recently a group of tribesmen hailing from North Waziristan have threatened to sue the U.S. unless families of civilians killed or wounded by the missile strikes are compensated. Supporters of the program insist, however, that most of the strikes are accurate and kill only militants.

[Associated Press]

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