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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani soldiers backed by helicopter gunships killed 20 pro-Taliban militants in an attack on Sunday in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a military spokesman said.

The army attack came hours after staunch U.S. ally President Pervez Musharraf swept the most votes in a presidential election.

“The operation is still on. Militants hold positions in the mountains and we’re targeting them with artillery and helicopter gunships,” said military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad.

Twenty militants had been killed and 15 wounded, he said.

Arshad said the attack was launched after militants ambushed a military convoy near Mir Ali town, 24 km (15 miles) east of the region’s main town of Miranshah town on Saturday evening.

Residents of the area had said earlier they had seen a military build-up, apparently in preparation for an offensive against the al Qaeda-linked militants.

Pakistan has seen a wave of violence since July, when a peace pact with militants broke down in North Waziristan and army commandos stormed a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad.

The violence has reinforced opposition among many Pakistanis to Musharraf’s support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Musharraf has said terrorism and extremism are the biggest challenges the country faces and has called for reconciliation among political parties to tackle it.  Continued…

By John McPhaul

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Costa Ricans vote on a free-trade deal with the United States on Sunday in a referendum that has split the Central American nation like no other issue in decades.

Opponents fear the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, will weaken the country’s prized welfare system, among the strongest in Latin America.

Supporters, led by Nobel peace laureate President Oscar Arias, say Costa Rica needs to open its economy more since it is a small country with few natural resources.

In the second such warning in recent days, the White House said on Saturday it would not renegotiate the deal if Costa Ricans vote against the current proposal.

A poll last week in La Nacion newspaper showed Costa Ricans rejecting the trade deal by 55 percent to 43 percent. Other recent surveys showed the country — home to 4 million people and the most prosperous and stable in Central America — sharply divided.

The agreement would open state-run sectors like telecommunications and insurance to competition from foreign firms. Opponents say that threatens institutions that have contributed to the country’s social stability for decades.

Critics also say the deal will mean a flood of cheap U.S. farm imports and limit the country’s sovereignty by taking investment disputes to international arbitration.

“The experiences of other countries that have signed CAFTA have not been good — a lot of unemployment and a concentration of wealth in the hands of the few,” said hardware store owner Alex Cordero.  Continued…

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf won most votes in a presidential election on Saturday but he must wait for the Supreme Court to confirm the legality of his bid before being declared the winner.

His landslide in an election largely boycotted by the opposition was widely expected. Members of the two-chamber parliament and four provincial assemblies voted for president.

The ruling coalition’s majority ensured that Musharraf beat two rival candidates. However, his fate will not be known until October 17 at the earliest when the Supreme Court is due to consider whether he was eligible to stand while still army chief.

Doubts over the final outcome have added to uncertainty in the nuclear-armed Muslim country entering a transition period from military to civilian rule which will culminate in a national election due by mid-January.

In the two houses of parliament, Musharraf won 252 of 257 votes cast. His closest rival, Wajihuddin Ahmed, won two votes, while three votes were rejected, Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Muhammad Farooq told the National Assembly.

U.S. ally Musharraf, who took power in a coup in 1999, won most votes in the provincial assemblies and finished with 384 electoral college votes out of 702, according to a Reuters tally.

“It’s a very historic day,” Musharraf told a news conference.

“This is the first step towards the final phase of transition back to an absolutely normal government system,” he said, referring to the vote and a promise to quit the army by November 15 and be sworn in as a civilian leader.  Continued…