KHYBER AGENCY, Pakistan -- Pakistan's newly elected government launched the first major assault against militants in the country's volatile northwest on Saturday, destroying a militant leader's headquarters and shelling suspected hideouts of other fighters.

The United States said such deals were giving militants the freedom to regroup for attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. With growing militant threats to the nearby Pakistani city of Peshawar -- and to the key Khyber supply route for U.S. forces in Afghanistan -- Pakistan took action.

Late Friday, 700 troops from the paramilitary Frontier Corps moved into Kyber in preparation for the offensive, a round-the-clock curfew was imposed in the Bara area, and heavy contingents of troops blocked the main road from Peshawar into Kyber, local officials said.

By Saturday afternoon, the Frontier Corps began shelling suspected militant hide-outs in the mountains, local official Muhammad Siddiq Khan said.

BAGHDAD -- An al-Qaida front organization claimed responsibility Saturday for a suicide bombing that killed more than 20 people -- including three Marines -- as the U.S. military stepped up pressure on extremists in northern Iraq.

The Islamic State of Iraq posted the claim on a militant Web site, saying the bomber blew himself up among a gathering of the "heads of apostasy" -- a reference to U.S.-backed Sunni tribal leaders who were attending a meeting Thursday in Karmah, 20 miles west of Baghdad.

"They sold their souls to the American devil for a cheap price," the statement said. "Therefore, the soldiers of the Islamic State of Iraq have launched an open war against them."

The dead included the commander of Marines in the area, Lt. Col. Max A. Galeai of Pago Pago, American Samoa, as well as the mayor of Karmah, several key tribal figures and two interpreters, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

SEOUL, South Korea -- Beef bested bombs.

America's chief diplomat found herself vouching for the purity of U.S. cattle Saturday, wading into a bitter trade dispute that for South Koreans has eclipsed the long-running drama over North Korea's nuclear activity and threatened the government of President Lee Myung-bak.

Just one day after the communist North demolished the most visible symbol of its nuclear programs, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced a barrage of questions about the safety of American steaks, chops and burgers. She had told reporters she hoped this issue would not distract from other matters.

"I want to assure everyone that American beef is safe," she told a news conference with South Korea's foreign minister, Yu Myung-hwan. "We will continue to work with you to have consumer confidence in that matter. We want there to be consumer confidence in American beef."

But Yu said the beef issue probably would not go away quickly.

"It will take time for that risk to be erased from the minds of the Korean public," he said.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- At least one person was killed and 28 others wounded early Saturday when a bomb ripped through an apartment building in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, security officials said.

The explosion occurred in an area that was the scene of fierce sectarian fighting last week between government and opposition supporters, in which nine people were killed and 44 others wounded.

Saturday's blast was caused by a bomb placed in an elevator in the building in Tripoli's Bab el-Tabaneh district, whose Sunni Muslim residents support the government, said the officials in Beirut and Tripoli. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Some of the wounded were in critical condition, the officials said.

The explosion caused heavy damage to the building and nearby buildings, the state-run National News Agency reported. It said the sound of the blast forced hundreds of panicked residents out of their beds and into the street to help rescue efforts.

JERUSALEM -- Israel will allow the resumption of food shipments into the Gaza Strip on Sunday after a four-day halt in response to Palestinian rocket attacks, Israeli defense officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because an official statement had not been issued, said that a meeting of defense chiefs had decided to allow 80 truckloads to cross.

Israel imposed a partial blockade on the strip when Hamas seized power there a year ago, then tightened it in retaliation for constant rocket and mortar attacks from the territory.

It began easing restrictions last Sunday, after a truce with Palestinian militants took effect but clamped down again after three rockets were fired into Israel on Tuesday, lightly wounding two people.