Pakistan lifts arrest against Bhutto

LAHORE, Pakistan -- Police said they lifted the house arrest of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto today, hours before the arrival of a senior U.S. envoy who was expected to urge the country's military leader to end emergency rule.

The move came after Bhutto -- while still confined to a house in Lahore -- urged fellow opposition leaders to join her in an alliance that could govern until elections.

Despite Bhutto's call, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has given no sign he will hand over power. He has named his own interim prime minister and was expected to announce Friday a caretaker Cabinet to oversee parliamentary elections promised by Jan. 9.

Political unrest deepened Thursday as one of the country's main Islamist parties called its first protests toiday against the state of emergency, adding the voice of factions opposed to Musharraf's alliance with the U.S. to the recent protests by lawyers, students and secular parties against military rule.

Also Thursday, two children and an adult were killed during a gunbattle between police and protesters in the southern city of Karachi -- the first deaths during demonstrations since Musharraf suspended the constitution Nov. 3. Protests were reported in other cities and more party activists were arrested.