Militants seized control of an Islamic shrine in northwestern Pakistan on July 30 and renamed it the Red Mosque in support of a pro-Taliban cleric who defied the government and was killed in an army siege in Islamabad.

It adds to the sense of insecurity in the tribal regions, where President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is under pressure to crack down on the Taliban and al-Qaida.

In Islamabad, the government again rejected the possibility of U.S. military strikes and criticized another form of U.S. pressure to do more to crush the militants — a bill that would tie development aid to Pakistan's progress in fighting militancy.