Peshawar, Oct 13: Pakistani security forces claimed to have killed 27 Taliban, including 12 bombers, in an air-strike in the Orakzai Agency, here last evening.

The Frontier Corps (FC) described it as a “highly successful action”.

“In a highly successful action in Orakzai Agency, a combat aviation strike killed 27 Taliban,” a statement from the Frontier Corps (FC) headquarters said and added that those killed included two important Taliban commanders.

Credible sources confirmed that 12 persons among those killed were “would-be suicide bombers”, the Daily Times quoted the FC statement as saying.

Lahore, Oct 13 : Even as the US and the UK have been encouraging the Afghan Government to hold talks with the moderate Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai had recently offered cabinet berths to the Taliban leaders in his government if they agreed to a peace deal which could bring fighting to an end.

Karzai reportedly made the offer through his brother Qayoun at a secret meeting in Saudi Arabia of which Britain was aware.

Washington, Oct 13 : The Pakistan Government’s declared ‘austerity’ programme, particularly initiated by President Asif Ali Zardari amid the prevailing economic crisis, has reportedly received a lot, as a 15-strong delegation of Pakistani parliamentarians gets ready to fly to the US to ‘study and witness’ the November 4 US presidential election.

The move assumes significance in the wake of the financial crunch worsening and Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves dwindling.

New Delhi, Oct 13 : National Security Adviser M K Narayanan will meet his Pakistani counterpart Mahmud Ali Durrani here today. 

Issues like the spate of recent ceasefire violations, rise in cross border infiltration and Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul are likely to figure in the bilateral discussions between Durrani and Narayanan.

Durrani during his deliberations with the NSA and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon is also expected to prepare ground for the special meeting of Joint Anti terror Mechanism.

London, Oct 12 : British officials covered up evidence that a Taliban commander killed by special forces in Helmand last year was in fact a Pakistani military officer, according to highly placed Afghan officials.

The commander, targeted in a compound in the Sangin valley, was one of six killed in the past year by Special Air service regiment and Special Boat Service regiment of the British Army. When the British soldiers entered the compound they discovered a Pakistani military ID on the body, The Times reported.

It was the first physical evidence of covert Pakistani military operations against British forces in Afghanistan even though Islamabad insists it is a close ally in the war against terror.

Washington, Oct 12 : US Secretary of State Codoleezza Rice has underlined the serious challenges, including terrorism and financial instability, facing the country could be a direct threat to the United States itself.

She said that the US was actively engaged in efforts to help Pakistan’s democratic government overcome economic challenges facing it.