Pakistan brigadier killed on vacation

ISLAMABAD: Suspected Taliban militants shot and killed a Pakistani army brigadier and his driver in the capital yesterday as the military continued a major offensive against the insurgents in their strongholds near the Afghan border.

Exposing the country's frayed nerves, the stock market dipped nearly 3 percent on false reports that a bomb had been found and shots fired at a courthouse in the capital, Islamabad.

The false alarm came as the country remained on high alert for possible retaliatory strikes by Taliban militants while the army attacks their strongholds in South Waziristan.