KARACHI (Reuters) – Troops recaptured Pakistan’s naval air force headquarters on Monday after a 16-hour battle with Taliban gunmen who had stormed the facility in the most brazen attack since the killing of Osama bin Laden.

More than 20 militants assaulted the PNS Mehran base in the city of Karachi late on Sunday, blowing up at least one aircraft and laying siege to a main building in one of the most heavily guarded bases in the unstable, nuclear-armed country.

KARACHI (Reuters) – A huge billboard outside Pakistan’s naval air force headquarters, which came under sustained attack for hours on Monday, says it all — “Pakistan Air Force Museum. Unique experience.”

Attacks against Pakistan security forces are all too common, but the scale of Monday’s operation marked it out as the most audacious since the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces early this month.

By Michael Georgy

(Reuters) – Islamic charities from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates financed a network in U.S. ally Pakistan that recruited children as young as eight to wage holy war, a local newspaper reported on Sunday, citing Wikileaks.

A U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks said financial support estimated at $100 million a year was making its way from those Gulf Arab states to a jihadist recruitment network in Pakistan’s Punjab province, Dawn newspaper reported.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – U.S. special forces were embedded with Pakistani troops on intelligence-gathering missions by the summer of 2009, confidential American diplomatic cables showed, a revelation that could hurt the Pakistani military’s public image.

The disclosure comes a day after another set of cables showed that Pakistan’s powerful army chief not only tacitly agreed to the covert U.S. drone campaign against militants, but asked for “continuous Predator coverage” of the tribal areas by these aircraft. The army denied the contents.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – U.S. special forces were embedded with Pakistani troops on intelligence-gathering missions by the summer of 2009, confidential American diplomatic cables showed, a revelation that could hurt the Pakistani military’s public image.

The disclosure comes a day after another set of cables showed that Pakistan’s powerful army chief not only tacitly agreed to the covert U.S. drone campaign against militants, but asked for “continuous Predator coverage” of the tribal areas by these aircraft. The army denied the contents.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s civilian government issued visas to more than 400 Americans without army security clearances starting in early 2010, possibly enabling the CIA to boost its presence, in a move that angered the powerful military.

Details of the visa decision emerged after U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in his compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad on May 2, straining already uneasy ties between strategic allies Islamabad and Washington.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s civilian government issued visas to more than 400 Americans without army security clearances starting in early 2010, possibly enabling the CIA to boost its presence, in a move that angered the powerful military.

Details of the visa decision emerged after U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in his compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad on May 2, straining already uneasy ties between strategic allies Islamabad and Washington.

(Reuters) – When Pakistan’s army officers are not watching their old rival India or fighting Taliban insurgents, they are busy running a business empire that gives them an iron hold on society.

As one saying goes here: “Every country has an army, Pakistan’s army has a country.”

By Michael Georgy

(Reuters) – When Pakistan’s army officers are not watching their old rival India or fighting Taliban insurgents, they are busy running a business empire that gives them an iron hold on society.

As one saying goes here: “Every country has an army, Pakistan’s army has a country.”

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s powerful military and its spy agency must have been aware Osama bin Laden was hiding in the country and avoided telling critical ally the United States to protect its strategic assets, a leading authority on the army said.

“Somebody in a position of authority had to know,” said Ayesha Siddiqa, author of “Military Inc,” which analyses the army’s tight security, political and economic hold over Pakistan.