U.S. officials say the United States has intensified its bombing campaign against militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region, in an effort to prevent attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.

Unnamed officials said Tuesday the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has launched 20 attacks using armed drone aircraft in September, the most ever in a single month.

They say they are stepping up the strikes to prevent attacks on international forces in Afghanistan and disrupt possible terrorist plots on the West from Pakistan-based militants.

A French official said Friday France has no immediate plans to use military action to rescue five French nationals abducted by al-Qaida forces in North Africa. A French aid worker was executed by the same group in July after France launched a failed rescue mission to retrieve him.

Leaders in Pakistan and political activists are agitating against a U.S. court's decision to sentence a Pakistani neuroscientist to 86 years in prison for trying to kill American security officers in Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama had sounded a conciliatory theme toward Iran in a General Assembly speech earlier in the day, saying major powers still want dialogue with Tehran over its nuclear program.

But the Iranian leader was defiant in a policy address only a few hours later. He suggested his country was being bullied by the U.N. Security Council over the nuclear issue, and claimed that a majority of Americans believe their government was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad triggered a walkout of U.S. and other delegates when he suggested in a U.N. General Assembly speech Thursday that the United States government staged the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Iranian leader said his country's nuclear activities are in conformance with international accords.

As African terrorists affiliated with al-Qaida target corporate interests in the Sahel as part of a campaign to boost popular support, regional governments are trying to better coordinate their response.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb focuses mainly on bombing military outposts and kidnapping tourists and foreign aid workers.

Authorities in Colombia say a top FARC rebel leader has been killed in a battle with government troops, the latest in a series of blows to the nation's main rebel group.

Government security officials said Tuesday that Jorge Briceno, also known as Mono JoJoy, was killed in a battle early Thursday in the nation's Meta region.

Speaking to reporters in New York where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos called Briceno's death the biggest blow ever to the rebel group.

Yemen's government says four of its soldiers have been killed in a continuing offensive against suspected members of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The government has laid siege to a southern town in a bid to capture the suspects, thought to number in the dozens.

The offensive is among the most sustained against the militants, who apparently retain control of at least parts of the southern town of Howta.

Thousands of people were able to flee before the attack got under way Monday, but the government alleges some remain and are being used by militants as human shields.

Terrorists affiliated with al-Qaida are claiming responsibility for last week's kidnapping of seven foreigners in Niger. The hostages were taken from a French uranium mine.

In remarks broadcast on al-Qaida's website, a spokesman for the group al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said its fighters stormed a French uranium mine near the town of Arlit, despite heavy security.