Pakistani army kills 16 Taliban in Afghan border

Pakistani security forces killed 16 Taliban fighters after coming under attack in a volatile tribal region on the Afghan border on Saturday, the military said as authorities announced the establishment of an Islamic court.

The clash in the Mohmand tribal region, bordering Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar, came as security forces battled into the fifth consecutive day to take control of a strategic valley in the neighboring Malakand division.

In the neighboring Khyber tribal region, a Taliban commander wanted for attacks on convoys carrying supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan surrendered to authorities, officials said.

Over 60Taliban fighters stormed a post of paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) in a predawn attack in the Spin Tangi area of Mohmand and killed two soldiers.

"Our soldiers successfully repulsed the attack and killed 16 militants," a military spokesman Major Fazal Khan told Reuters.

Taliban unleashed a campaign of suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan for several years but their creeping advances to establish their writ in parts of the North West Frontier Province has sent jitters across Pakistan and caused alarm in the United States about the stability of its nuclear-armed ally.

Islamic appellate court

Dar-ul-Qaza, an Islamic appellate court, was set up for the Malakand division of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). NWFP authorities agreed in February to enforce Islamic sharia law there in the hope that militants would shun violence.

"Dar-ul-Qaza was the main demand and it has been met. Now there is no justification to take up arms," provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told a news conference.

"But if they take up arms even after this announcement, keep on challenging the government and try to run a parallel government, then the government will stop them at all costs."

Dar-ul-Qaza was the main demand and it has been met. Now there is no justification to take up arms

Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain

US concern

Pakistan is vital for the U.S. efforts to defeat al-Qaeda and Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan.

The White House said that American President Barack Obama will host a summit with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts on Wednesday, amid growing U.S. concern over the deteriorating situation in the region.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani leader Asif Ali Zardari will also hold separate talks with Obama as well as a mini-summit, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday.

"The president looks forward to discussing with these two democratically elected leaders how we can work together to enhance our cooperation in this important part of the world as the United States implements a new strategy" for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Gibbs.

Obama has put nuclear-armed Pakistan, a key regional U.S. ally, at the center of the fight against Qaeda as Washington dispatches 4,000 more troops, in addition to an extra 17,000 already committed, to Afghanistan.

We think that there are a number of important missions in Afghanistan, but we can only do a few. And we have to count on our allies and partners to do others

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Reaching out to opposition in Pakistan

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported late Friday that the administration of Obama was reaching out to former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the chief rival of President Zardari, in hopes to find a way to strengthen the country's government.

Sharif, who served as Pakistan's prime minister twice during the 1990s, represents the Pakistan Muslim League-N, a coalition that includes a number of Islamist groups.

Citing unnamed administration officials, the newspaper reported on its website that because of his ties to Islamists, the U.S. government has long held Sharif at arm's length.

But now some Obama administration officials say those ties could be useful in helping Zardari's government to confront the challenge from Taliban insurgents, the report said.

"We think that there are a number of important missions in Afghanistan, but we can only do a few. And we have to count on our allies and partners to do others," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.