UN raises Pakistani capital security level

The U.N. declared the Pakistani capital unsafe for the children of its international staff Thursday and ordered them out, putting the once tranquil city on a par with Kabul and Somalia.

Pakistan is under intense U.S. pressure to combat militants responsible for rising attacks at home and in neighboring Afghanistan. Its faltering efforts so far have been met with a blur of suicide bombings that have killed nearly 1,200 people since July 2007, according to army statistics released this week.

The U.N., which employs more than 2,000 people in Pakistan, including about 100 foreigners, has not been hit.

However, the truck bombing of Islamabad's Marriott …