US's Rice headed to Pakistan for security talks

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will head to Pakistan today for talks on the war on terrorism as the two nations strive to deal with violence by militants ousted from neighboring Afghanistan.

The trip announcement came hours after a suicide car bomber rammed a Pakistani paramilitary checkpost, killing at least six troopers in a tribal region where the army has been fighting al Qaeda and pro-Taliban militants for months, officials said.

The attack in North Waziristan came a day after a commander with the pro-Taliban militants said a monthlong cease-fire had been called to give time for tribal elders to broker a settlement to end the conflict in the semi-autonomous region.

Violence in the region has spiked in recent weeks and the U.S.-led coalition has launched an offensive, code-named ''Operation Mountain Thrust,'' into southern Afghanistan before NATO takes over the volatile region from the United States.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week expressed concern over growing militant violence in which more than 1,100 people, including more than 40 foreign soldiers, have been killed this year.

Rice's visit to Pakistan, where she arrives on Tuesday, is a stop added to her planned trip to Moscow. She arrives in Moscow later in the week for a foreign ministers' meeting to prepare for a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations next month in Russia.

In Moscow, Rice is expected to seek to reinforce a united position among the eight powerful nations to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear programs.

Reuters SK VP0035