PAKISTAN

Pakistan reiterated that it would not let U.S. forces hunt Al Qaeda and Taliban militants on its soil, after a news report said the Bush administration was considering expanding military and intelligence operations in the nation's tribal regions.

The Foreign Ministry dismissed as speculative a New York Times story saying President Bush's top security officials discussed a proposal Friday to deploy U.S. troops along the Pakistani-Afghan border.

The border area has long been considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden.

SRI LANKA

High-ranking Tamil rebel killed

Sri Lankan troops infiltrated separatist Tamil Tiger rebel territory in the north and blew up a car, killing a top rebel intelligence official and three others, a pro-rebel website reported.

The blast that killed Shanmuganathan Ravishankar, also known as Col. Charles, took place Saturday, TamilNet said.

A Defense Ministry official, however, said that the military had not targeted Ravishankar with a bomb, and that he could have been killed in a number of clashes. The military reported that 16 rebels and one soldier had been killed.

GAZA STRIP

Four Palestinians slain in Israeli raid

Israeli troops killed four Palestinians in a raid in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, witnesses said, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to step up attacks on militants who fire rockets into Israel.

Palestinian hospital officials said three of the dead in the Bureij refugee camp were civilians.

Militants fired an antitank rocket, injuring five Israeli soldiers. The fighting also wounded at least 34 Palestinians.

From Times Wire Reports