ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - The top U.S. military official Tuesday held talks on fighting terrorism with the president and the army chief of Pakistan, whose troops have been battling a growing insurgency along the border with Afghanistan.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen was making his second visit to Pakistan in a month. The back-to-back trips reflect U.S. concerns that the insurgency by al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the country's northwestern tribal region represents an increasing threat.
Mullen's talks took place as a suicide bombing attack at the Pakistan navy training college in the eastern city of Lahore left four people dead and 14 others wounded Tuesday, police and an interior ministry official said.
Mullen met with President Pervez Musharraf for talks on the «regional security situation and the measures being taken to address it,» the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported.
«They also discussed the role the two countries were playing in the global war against terror,» APP said.
Mullen also conferred with army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital, Islamabad.
Mullen and Kayani «discussed matters of professional interest with particular reference to the security situation in the region,» a statement from Pakistan's military said. It provided no further details.
Last month, Mullen said the threat of Islamic extremism was growing in Pakistan and that the country's leadership was aware of the challenge facing the nation.
Mullen is likely to use his current trip to discuss plans calling for 22 U.S. personnel to train elements of the Pakistani military in counterinsurgency and intelligence gathering techniques.
The training _ to be passed on to Pakistan's border Frontier Corps force _ would leave those troops better able to cooperate with U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The U.S. personnel are scheduled to arrive sometime between June and October, the official said. Current plans call for the U.S. training to last two years and to be passed on to some 8,500 Frontier Corps troops.
Mullen was also expected to meet with Gen. Tariq Majid, the chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff committee.
An increase in violence in northwestern tribal regions has raised doubts about the ability of Pakistan's U.S.-allied government to stem the militancy.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber attacked a meeting of tribal elders discussing how to resist militants in the tribal town of Darra Adam Khel, killing 40 people.
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