Pakistan's Battle Against Militants Rages
Security forces killed as many as 70 militant fighters in Pakistan's volatile northwest on Thursday, an army spokesman said.
CBS News' Farhan Bokhari reports the fighting came just hours after a suicide attack on a Pakistan Air Force bus killed eight people.
Terror attacks and clashes between militants and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's security forces have deepened the political turmoil ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on whether Musharraf's sweeping Oct. 6 election victory was unconstitutional, because he contested the vote while army chief. There are fears he could impose a state of emergency if judges rule against him, jeopardizing the country's transition to civilian rule.
In the latest violence, the militants in the northwest district of Swat attacked law-enforcement posts before dawn Thursday, and security forces responded with fire from mortars, small arms and helicopter gunships.
"According to the information I have from police and Frontier Constabulary, between 60 to 70 miscreants were killed in Swat's areas of Khawaza Khela today," army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said. Pakistan officials often refer to militants as "miscreants."
CBS News' Sami Yousafzai describes Swat as a scenic mountain area which had formerly been a favorite holiday destination for Pakistanis and travelers from around the world.
It had been relatively peaceful until recent months, when extremist clerics started gathering support in the area, drawing state security forces back into the region, says Yousafzai.
The suicide bombing on the Pakistan Air Force bus occurred around 7 a.m. near an air base in Sargodha, about 125 miles south of the capital, Islamabad, said air force spokesman Sarfraz Ahmed. All the dead were air force employees, said Sahid Malik, an official at the hospital treating the victims.
Bokhari reports Thursday's bus bombing was the second attack in three days targeting the Pakistani military, which has ruled the country for more than half of its 60 year existence as a nation.
On Tuesday, seven people were killed including a lone suicide bomber when he blew himself up near a police check post about 500 yards away from Musharraf's official residence.
There have been no claims of responsibility for the recent attacks, but most have been blamed on Islamic extremists, who also have engaged in the deadly clashes with the military in the volatile northwest.
Early Thursday, militants attacked hilltop positions of security forces in the Khwaza Khela area, triggering a gun battle, said local police official Ali Rahman. He added that troops backed by helicopter gunships and artillery continued targeting militant facilities, killing at least five. The security forces suffered no casualties, he said.
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, seen by many supporters as key to a possible return to democratic rule, left the country to visit family in the United Arab Emirates, two weeks after she was targeted by assassins upon her return from eight years in exile.
Bhutto arrived in Dubai on Thursday and was expected to return home on Nov. 8 after visiting her children and ailing mother, said her spokesman, Farhatullah Babar. Earlier, the former prime minister had said she intended to cancel the trip, citing lingering political uncertainties. It was not clear why she changed her mind.
Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, has pledged to quit the army before starting a new presidential term, but declined on election night to say whether he would accept a negative verdict from the court.
The doubts over his political future - and what course he might take if blocked from a new five-year term - has added to the climate of uncertainty in the country.
The Supreme Court, which in recent months has emerged as the main check on Musharraf's dominance, said Thursday that rumors of martial law would have no impact on its decision.
"No threat will have any effect on this bench, whether it is martial law or (state of) emergency," said judge Javed Iqbal before adjourning until Friday. The judge warned the next session after that could be Nov. 12, three days before Musharraf's current term expires.
"Whatever will happen, it will be according to the constitution and rules," he said. "No group should think that it can take the Supreme Court hostage."
With his authority and political clout fading, Musharraf agreed to a corruption amnesty to help Bhutto return to Pakistan. That followed months of talks on a possible pro-Western alliance between them to counter Islamic extremism after parliamentary elections slated for January.
Bhutto's Oct. 18 homecoming was the target of the country's deadliest-ever suicide attack, claiming more than 140 lives.