ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain, center on a military vehicle, reviews a military parade to mark Pakistan’s Republic Day yesterday. — AP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain praised his country's security forces and pledged to continue the fight against terrorism, speaking at a rally during a national holiday. Yesterday Hussain spoke at a military parade to mark Pakistan's Republic Day at a stadium in Islamabad. The event was held amid tight security, with authorities disabling mobile phone services in the city to thwart possible attacks.

During the rally, attended by several thousand people, Pakistan displayed nuclear-capable weapons, tanks, jets, drones and other weapons systems. Pakistan in 1998 announced it had become a nuclear power by launching a weapons test. Hussein said that an ongoing military operation against militants in the northwest of the country had reached its "final phase." In recent years, Pakistan has been rocked by numerous militant attacks.

Gunmen slay four

In another development, gunmen on motorcyles shot dead two policemen and a former intelligence official in a northwestern Pakistani province bearing the brunt of a decade-long war against terrorism, police said yesterday. Pakistan is battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency, with groups such as the Pakistani Taleban routinely carrying out attacks as part of their struggle to overthrow the government. The policemen were shot dead yesterday on a roadside in the town of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, senior police official Abdul Ghafoor Afridi said.

In a separate incident, gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead a retired intelligence official in the provincial capital Peshawar, said senior police official Kashif Zulfiqar. Abdul Latif retired from the intelligence service some 18 months ago. He was targeted near his house late Tuesday as he was going to mosque for night prayers. A shopkeeper was also shot dead by gunmen on motorcycles in the northwestern town of Shabqadar on Tuesday, local police said. They said they suspected the man was targeted after declaring himself a prophet, which Muslims consider an un-Islamic act. No one has claimed responsibility for the killings. Agencies