U.S. confirms incursion into Pakistan

In Washington, officials at the Pentagon, State Department and White House wouldn't confirm earlier Wednesday that the raid had taken place.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe declined to comment. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said: "I have nothing for you."

And officials allowed the Pakistani foreign ministry complaint to stand without public response, an indication of how politically sensitive the incident could be for the Islamabad government.

The civilian government — under pressure from Washington — has also taken a tough line against militants, seeking to persuade the public that security forces are fighting Islamic extremists for Pakistan's sake, not Washington's.

Violence reported elsewhere
In a mark of the country's precarious stability, snipers fired on the motorcade for Pakistan's prime minister on Wednesday as it drove to the airport to pick him up, striking his car window at least twice, officials said.

Neither Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani nor his staff were in the vehicles.

Muslim Khan, a spokesman for the banned militant organization Tahrik-e-Taliban, claimed responsibility and pledged more attacks in retaliation for army operations in tribal areas and the Swat valley.

The attack was the second apparent assassination attempt in Pakistan in a week.

Shots were fired last week at a car carrying Lynne Tracy, the top U.S. diplomat in Pakistan's troubled northwest, as she was headed to her office in the city of Peshawar. No one was hurt in that shooting.

Murad Khan, the army spokesman, said security forces killed 25 to 30 militants in an offensive Wednesday against militants in Swat, a former tourist destination were Islamic extremists tried to seize control last year.

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