A prominent anti-Taliban Pakistani cleric was killed on Friday in a suicide bomb attack in the city of Lahore as U.S. House of Representatives voted to support financial aid for Pakistan in its fight against violent extremists.
Moderate cleric Sarfraz Naeemi was attacked at his mosque complex just after leading Friday prayers.
"Unfortunately, Maulana Sarfraz Naeemi has been martyred," Lahore police chief Pervez Rathore told Reuters.
In Nowshera, in North West Frontier Province, three people were killed and more than 20 were wounded, police said.
Rising violence has raised fears for Pakistan’s stability and for the safety of its nuclear arsenal but the offensive in Swat has reassured the United States about its commitment to the global campaign against militancy.
US House backs aid package
Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives late on Thursday voted to ramp up aid to Pakistan, but lawmakers still need to resolve deep differences on how many strings come attached.
The House voted largely along party lines, 238 to 183, to triple U.S. aid to $1.5 billion annually through the 2013 fiscal year, focusing on development spending aimed at eroding Pakistanis’ support for Islamic extremists.
"This legislation helps to lay the foundation for a stronger, more stable Pakistan," said Howard Berman, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
President Barack Obama has strongly endorsed boosting civilian assistance as part of the fight against al-Qaeda movements in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, which he has made a top priority of his young administration.
While key members of the rival Republican Party support expanding aid to Pakistan, the lawmakers mostly voted against the House bill, arguing that its conditions on Pakistan to keep receiving the aid were too onerous.
The Republicans have found unlikely common cause with Senate Democrats such as John Kerry, who has agreed with Islamabad’s case that strict aid conditions risk alienating a Pakistani public already suspicious of U.S. goals.
"Our Democratic colleagues decided to load this bill up with ill-conceived provisions to micro-manage U.S. security assistance to Pakistan," said Dan Burton, the top Republican on the House sub-committee handling South Asia.
"This is not just a debate between (U.S. lawmakers), this is about war and peace and the survivability of Pakistan as an independent nation. It’s about winning or losing the war in Afghanistan," he said.
House and Senate members will need to reconcile their two bills, a process which lawmakers say could take a couple of months.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has announced $110 million in emergency aid and requested $200 million more to support 2.5 million people who fled their homes in a Pakistani offensive against militants.