Toppled in a 1999 military coup, jailed and exiled, Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif has made a triumphant election comeback and looks set to form a stable government capable of implementing reforms needed to rescue the fragile economy.

Millions of Pakistanis turned out to vote in landmark elections on Saturday, defying deadly Taliban attacks to take part in an historic democratic transition for the nuclear-armed state.

Gunmen killed Pakistan's lead prosecutor investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as he was driving to court Friday, throwing a case that also involves the country's former ruler Pervez Musharraf into disarray.

Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf criticized allegations against him as “politically motivated” Friday, following his arrest in a case involving his decision to fire senior judges while in power.

Pakistan's government passed a major milestone Saturday, with the parliament becoming the first democratically chosen body to finish its five-year term in a country that has faced three military coups and persistent political turmoil.

The head of a U.N. team investigating casualties from U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan declared after a secret research trip to the country that the attacks violate Pakistan's sovereignty.

Pakistani cabinet ministers on Tuesday opened negotiations with Shiite Muslim protesters who are demanding army protection and refusing to bury victims of a bomb attack that killed 89 people in Quetta.

Pakistan's unpopular government, which is gearing up for elections expected within months, faced growing anger on Sunday for failing to deliver stability after a sectarian bombing in the city of Quetta killed 81 people.

Taliban militants wearing suicide vests and firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades attacked an army post in northwestern Pakistan before dawn on Saturday, killing 23 people including 10 civilians, officials said. Twelve attackers were also reported killed in the assault.

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a Shiite mosque in northwestern Pakistan as worshippers were leaving Friday prayers, killing 22 people and wounding over 30 in the latest apparent sectarian attack in the country, police said.