BBC News with Jonathan Izard

American officials have announced new

sanctions

against what they are calling dangerous terrorist groups operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The financial sanctions against five named individuals come as the United States urges Pakistan to clamp down on a group accused of attacking Americans in the region. From Washington, Kim Ghattas.

The move by the US Treasury Department is part of growing American pressure on the Pakistani authorities to do more against the Haqqani network. The group, which has strong ties to Islamabad, is linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and is believed to be behind an attack against the US embassy in Kabul earlier this month. The outgoing US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said the Haqqani network was a veritable arm of the Pakistani intelligence.

The Afghan President Hamid Karzai says initial investigations into the

assassination

of the former President Burhanuddin Rabbani have implicated known individuals in the Pakistani city of Quetta. In a television interview, Mr Karzai said he would send a fact-finding mission to Pakistan in the next two days to investigate. He said if Pakistan did not cooperate, he would refer the matter to the United Nations. Mr Karzai added that he would suspend peace talks with the Taliban if they were found to be responsible.

The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Syria to take every possible step to protect American diplomats in the country. Her comments came after the