Pakistan official says country at war

Pakistan's war against Islamic extremists will go on until the country is "terrorism-free," a senior official said after mounting violence prompted the UN to raise its security stance. Pakistan is under intense US pressure to combat militants responsible for rising attacks at home and in neighboring Afghanistan. Its faltering efforts so far have been met with a blur of suicide bombings that have killed nearly 1,200 people since July 2007, according to army statistics released this week. In remarks broadcast Friday, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said the government was undaunted. Previous Pakistani military campaigns against Islamic militants in the wild tribal belt along the Afghan frontier were halted too soon, he said, in an apparent reference to the policies of former President Pervez Musharraf.