Army officer, soldier killed in Pakistan capital

ISLAMABAD – Suspected militants on a motorbike shot and killed a soldier and a senior army officer in the Pakistani capital Thursday, striking at security forces as they pressed ahead with a major anti-Taliban offensive in the northwest.

The assault in Islamabad showed the insurgents are able to hit the heart of the country despite ramped up security and deploy diverse tactics in their fight. In recent weeks, suicide bombings and raids involving teams of gunmen on a range of targets have killed more than 170 people.

The offensive in South Wazirstan is considered a critical test of the nuclear-armed Pakistan's campaign against Islamist extremists aiming to overthrow the state and involved in attacks on Western forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

Two gunmen Thursday fired on an army jeep in a residential area of the capital, police official Zaffar Abbas said. A soldier and a brigadier — a high-ranking army officer — were killed, while the driver was wounded, authorities said.