Army Plans Offensive in Pakistan's Northwest

Violence has soared this year in neighboring Afghanistan, while more parts of northwestern Pakistan have fallen under the Taliban's sway.

"The back yard of the Afghanistan conflict is Pakistan. And Pakistan will be drawn in more and more," said Ayaz Amir, a leading political commentator. "Pakistan's become like Cambodia during the war in Vietnam."

The spillover has not been limited to the remote border regions of the northwest. The wide avenues of normally sedate Islamabad were the scene of a bombing Tuesday night targeting members of Pakistan's largest opposition group, who had gathered for an anti-Musharraf rally. At least 15 people were killed.

The government said extremists were to blame. But leaders of the Pakistan People's Party continued to suggest Wednesday that the attack might have been the work of the country's powerful intelligence agencies.

"We think it was a bomb planted by those who wish to create a sense of anarchy so they can postpone elections and declare emergency rule," said party spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

The party's leader, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has been in discussions with Musharraf's government about a possible power-sharing arrangement. But the viability of the talks was in doubt Wednesday, Babar said, after 11 party activists died in the blast and more than 35 were injured, including senior party officials who lost limbs.

Musharraf, meeting with journalists Wednesday, said he has no plans to declare a state of emergency.

He also said he wants to be reelected to a five-year term by the outgoing parliament while remaining head of the army.

Musharraf has faced stiff challenges this year from two distinct camps: moderates who want to defeat him at the polls and bring an end to eight years of military rule, and extremists who want to overthrow his government so they can implement a theocracy.

Musharraf last week vowed an initiative to stamp out extremism. But security analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi noted that Pakistan has already tried that. Before last year's peace deal, he said, the military lost hundreds of troops fighting extremists in the tribal areas but achieved little success.

"There's a limit to what they can do," Rizvi said. "For three years they operated in North Waziristan, and that has not solved the problem."

Khan reported from Karachi. Special correspondents Shahzad Khurram in Islamabad and Imtiaz Ali in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.