Kerry arrives on unannounced visit to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Jan 12 (AFP): US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived Monday on an unannounced visit to Pakistan for key talks, only weeks after the country's worst ever militant attack left 150 dead in a school.

"The secretary's engagement will be very critical to advancing our shared fight against militant extremism," a senior State Department official said, adding Kerry would chair annual strategic talks between the two countries.

Last week's Islamist attacks in Paris have sharpened the global focus on militant extremism, although governments have been on high alert since a series of brutal attacks around the world last year.

Pakistan has strengthened its anti-terror strategy since the December 16 Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar which killed 134 children and 16 adults and sparked global outrage.

Schools across Pakistan including the one in Peshawar reopened on Monday after an extended break following the assault.

There have been a series of Pakistani airstrikes in the restive northwest, a hiding place for different regional militant groups, in the wake of the attack which Islamabad has described as its equivalent of the September 11, 2001 assault.

Kerry at the time along with President Barack Obama led global condemnation, calling the attack "gut-wrenching".

The State Department official, who asked to remain anonymous, said there was an "intensifying conversation on Pakistani counter-terrorism operations in North Waziristan and elsewhere" following the attack.