Pakistani forces blew up the house of a leading Islamic militant early Monday, killing six people, as troops extended an anti-insurgent offensive in the Khyber tribal district.

The deaths came a day after the government said the three-day-old operation had saved the northwestern city of Peshawar from rebel advances and protected the main supply route for international forces in Afghanistan.

The offensive is the first by the new government since it launched controversial peace talks with militants along the border in March, a subject expected to be taken up by a top US diplomat visiting Islamabad on Monday.

An AFP photographer saw six coffins lined up outside the rubble of the house of Haji Namdar, the chief of a hardline organisation campaigning for Taliban-style Islamic law in troubled Khyber.

Namdar said the explosion appeared to be a missile strike and said he suspected the involvement of NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan, but did not provide any evidence to back the claim.

"It looked like a guided missile strike. It could have been the work of both Pakistani and NATO forces. We will take revenge," Namdar told AFP at the scene in the Par Qambarkhel area, near Bara, the main town in Khyber.

A Pakistani senior security official confirmed that the house was destroyed but said Pakistani forces were responsible.

"It was part of the ongoing operation. Our ground forces were involved," the official told AFP without giving further details.

Pakistani troops destroyed the house of an Mangal Bagh, the leader of the non-Taliban linked Lashkar-e-Islam group, on Saturday in Bara. They also demolished the headquarters of a separate hardline group early Sunday.

Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said on Sunday that the operation had been a success in tackling Islamist groups responsible for terrorising residents in Peshawar with a vigilante-style campaign.

But residents said most of the militants active in the region had moved to a region nearer the border with Afghanistan.

The operation has raised fears of further unrest, with Taliban rebels saying on Sunday that they had halted all peace deals with the government and an unexplained loud blasting sound causing panic in Islamabad on Monday.

Police and the military said after the noise was heard that there was no evidence of any attack in Islamabad or neighbouring Rawalpindi, the home of the Pakistani army.

Previous false alarms in the capital have been caused by sonic booms from military aircraft and quarry blasting in Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile a top US diplomat arrived in Islamabad for talks with the new government, following concerns in Washington over Pakistan’s negotiations with militant groups.

Richard Boucher, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other senior officials, television channels showed.

Details of the talks were not available.

Source : http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jXGPBa5fWb2DNSiAIQZ9A12lebkQ