WAR DEVELOPMENTS

IRAQ

> Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government is making good on promises to pay thousands of U.S.-backed Sunni fighters in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Sunday, despite some government unease over the alliance. U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Zamzow said the Iraqi government has paid 35,000 of the more than 51,000 Sons of Iraq in the Baghdad area on schedule, with the remaining fighters to be paid in coming days. The government now must follow through on promises to absorb 20 percent of the Sunnis into the Iraqi security forces and find other state or private-sector jobs for the rest.

> Seven Iraqis, including at least one policeman, died and seven others were wounded in a suicide car bombing Sunday at a police checkpoint in Jalula in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. A roadside bomb in a Sunni enclave of Baghdad also killed three people and wounded seven at a checkpoint manned by U.S.-backed fighters.

> The U.S. military said it will withdraw about 20 Apache attack helicopters from South Korea for redeployment in Iraq and Afghanistan next year.

PAKISTAN

> Pakistani helicopter gunships on Sunday widened their offensive against militants in the northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Pakistani officials confirmed the temporary suspension of oil tankers and trucks carrying sealed containers from using the Khyber Pass, a move that put pressure on a vital supply line for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

AFGHANISTAN

> Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered to provide security for the Taliban’s reclusive leader, Mullah Omar, if he agrees to enter peace talks, and suggested that if the U.S. and other Western nations disagreed they could leave the country or oust him. “If I say I want protection for Mullah Omar, the international community has two choices, remove me or leave if they disagree,” Karzai said.

> U.S.-led coalition troops reported killing 30 insurgents in fighting in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan and detaining two militant leaders in provinces near Pakistan’s lawless border. Meanwhile, suicide car bombers struck a NATO convoy in Baghlan province in the north, killing one person, and the British military said one of its soldiers was killed when his vehicle was hit by an explosion in Helmand province.