Gunmen kill Pakistani working at Iranian Consulate

In Pakistan, Taliban militants are waging a war against the government because they deem it un-Islamic and are angry about its alliance with the United States. The insurgency began in earnest in 2007, and attacks have grown more frequent since the army launched an offensive in mid-October against the Taliban's main stronghold in South Waziristan.

The latest fighting in South Waziristan killed 22 militants and five soldiers, the army said in a statement Thursday. The information is nearly impossible to verify independently since Pakistan has blocked access to the battle zone.

Analysts believe many militants have fled South Waziristan rather than stay to fight the army. Police arrested seven suspected Taliban militants in the southern city of Karachi on Thursday who came from the tribal area. Authorities confiscated suicide vests and some 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of explosives from the men, said Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmed.

Areas in and around Peshawar have experienced the brunt of militant attacks following the start of the army offensive. A car bomb exploded in a market in Peshawar at the end of October, killing at least 112 people in the deadliest attack in Pakistan in over two years.

Even before the recent army offensive, Peshawar was a scene of significant militant violence.

In 2008, gunmen ambushed a car carrying the Afghan consul toward his home in Peshawar, killing the driver and abducting the envoy, who had recently been selected as the next ambassador to Pakistan. His fate remains unclear. Suspected militants also killed a U.S. aid worker there last year and opened fire on a car carrying the top U.S. diplomat there.