BOMB KILLS INSAID IN MOSQUE IN PAKISTAN,WHY THIS KILLING?

A bomb blast killed around 40 worshippers attending Friday prayers at a mosque in a remote area of northwest Pakistan, a senior official in the area told Reuters. "The death toll is 40. We have no idea as yet how many have been wounded," said Atif-ur-Rehman, the senior-most government administrator in the Upper Dir district of North West Frontier Province. Earlier on Friday, police arrested suicide bombers in Islamabad and nearby Rawalpindi, Pakistan's interior minister said, as US special envoy Richard Holbrooke consulted the country's leaders on what needs to be done once the army wipes out the Taliban in Swat valley. Roadblocks have multiplied in recent days in both the capital and Rawalpindi, where the army is headquartered, over fears of attacks in retaliation against the Swat offensive. The military says more than 1,200 militants and 90 soldiers have been killed since the army swung into action in late April, while the militants have carried out bomb attacks in Lahore, and the northwestern cities of Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan. Western allies, worried the nuclear-armed country was sliding into chaos, have welcomed Pakistan's show of steel and the army action has received wide support from major political parties, the public and media. "The people of Swat have realized that the entire misery which we are facing today, it is because of the Taliban, because of the terrorists, who are not only enemies of the country but enemies of Islam," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. He told journalists that suspected bombers were caught in Islamabad and Rawalpindi with suicide jackets, but did not say how many. The News daily reported that four men were being held. The minister did not link the arrests to Holbrooke's visit, but there was no escaping the insecurity haunting Pakistan.

WAR CRIMES INVESTIGATION IN SRI LANKA.

Any credible accusation of human rights violations committed during the final bloody phase of Sri Lanka's war against Tamil Tiger separatists should be investigated, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday. "I'd like to ask the Sri Lankan government to recognize the international call for accountability and full transparency," Ban told reporters after he briefed the U.N. Security Council on a trip to Sri Lanka where he visited refugee camps and flew over the former conflict zone. "Whenever and wherever there are credible allegations for the violations of international humanitarian law there should be a proper investigation," he said. Human rights groups have criticized the government for what they say was a wanton disregard for human life during the final months of the war by continuously using heavy artillery to shell a tiny strip of land where the Tigers had retreated to along with hundreds of thousands of civilians. Ban and other U.N. officials accused the Liberation of Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of holding the civilians hostage and using them as human shields as they fought to hold on to their sliver of coast in northeastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE and Sri Lankan government have rejected the charges. U.N. officials say it is unclear how many civilians died during the final phase of the war, which ended when the government declared victory over the LTTE on May 18. U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes has said that several thousand civilians were killed. Diplomatic sources have told Reuters that the figure was probably higher than 10,000 but below 20,000.

TWO PRO-TALIBAN CLERICS KILLED IN PAKISTAN SHOOTOUT.

Two pro-Taliban clerics were killed in a shootout between security forces and militants in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, a day after around 40 people were killed in a suicide attack in a mosque, the military said."The terrorists ambushed the convoy at 5:10 a.m. (2310 GMT)," a military spokesman said. "Amir Izzat Khan and Mohammad Alam were killed and one of our non-commissioned officers embraced shahadat (martyrdom)," he said, referring to the clerics. Five soldiers were wounded, he added. The clash took place near the town of Mardan on the main road leading to Swat valley, where security forces launched a major operation last month to flush out militants. Khan and Alam were close aides to Sufi Mohammad, a cleric who struck a peace deal with authorities in February to end violence in Swat. The pact collapsed after militants refused to lay down arms and began expanding their influence in nearby districts. The military says more than 1,200 militants and 90 soldiers have been killed since the army swung into action, while the militants have carried out nine bomb attacks in several cities and town in recent weeks. At least 40 people were killed and dozens were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself during Friday prayers in a mosque in Upper Dir district, near Swat. On Thursday, militants shot dead five policemen and a soldier after first targeting a convoy with a roadside bomb in Mardan just hours after U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, visited the town to see camps set up for some of the 2.5 million people who fled the conflict zone. The United States and Pakistan's other western allies, worried over risks of nuclear-armed Pakistan's sliding into chaos after Taliban's creeping advances, have welcomed the Swat offensive.