PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Twenty-three Pakistani soldiers and 110 militants have been killed in fierce fighting in a strategic area of northwest Pakistan, a military official said on Tuesday.

The army, backed by fighter planes and helicopter gunships, launched an operation against theTaliban and its allies in the remote Tirah Valley four days ago and fighting was still raging on Tuesday.

"In four days of fighting, 110 militants and 23 Pakistan army soldiers have been killed and dozens of militants injured," a senior military official told Reuters.

Pakistan's military, one of the biggest in the world, has failed to break the back of the Taliban, despite a series of offensives against their strongholds in the northwest.

The Taliban, which is close to al Qaeda and is blamed for many of the suicide bombings across Pakistan, is fighting to toppled the U.S.-backed government.

"The valley has not been cleared of the militants yet even though jet fighters and helicopter gunships pounded their positions," the military official said.

He said the militants could easily sneak into other semi-autonomous tribal regions near the Afghan border, a strategy they often deployed when the pressure is on.

The army and the Taliban, backed by Lashkar-e-Islam, have been fighting for control of heights above Tirah Valley, which is located in Khyber tribal region.

(Reporting by Jibran Ahmad; Editing by Michael Roddy)

The Coptic cathedral is reflected on the glass of a public bus in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, April 8, 2013. A senior Egyptian health ministry official says the death toll in clashes between Muslims and Christians in Cairo has risen to two. Dozens of people were injured. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

An Egyptian woman walks past anti-riot police vehicles near the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, April 8, 2013. The death toll in clashes between Muslims and Christians in Cairo has risen to two, health and security officials said Monday. Another 89 were injured in the clashes outside Cairo's main Coptic cathedral, which brought Egypt's growing religious tension to the seat of the church's pope. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Coptic Christian pope delivered an unprecedented direct criticism of the Islamist president Tuesday after a mob attack on the church's main cathedral, saying he had failed to protect the building and warning that the country is collapsing.

The comments by Pope Tawadros II and the cathedral attack itself illustrate a new reality in Egypt, where institutions long seen as above the fray are being dragged into the country's intense polarization and political violence.

Egypt has become increasingly divided between two camps, with President Mohammed Morsi and Islamist allies on one side and an opposition made up of moderate Muslims, Christians and liberals on the other, a schism essentially over the country's political future after decades of dictatorship. Opponents accuse Morsi and theMuslim Brotherhood of seeking to monopolize power, while Morsi's allies say the opposition is trying to destabilize the country to derail the elected leadership.

Traditionally, a number of state icons were considered untouchable politically — nationalist pillars vital for the state's stability and so too important to be criticized or mired in disputes. But one by one, they have been sucked into the country's divisions, whether under pressure to take sides or outright plunged into controversy.

The military was pulled into politics early on when it took power following the February 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak and ruled for nearly 17 months. The courts became the center of controversy last year, with repeated confrontations between Morsi's administration and members of the judiciary.

Now, not only the Coptic Church but also the country's most eminent Islamic institution, Al-Azhar, are getting caught up in the turmoil.

Tawadros' remarks Tuesday in a telephone interview with the private ONTV network were his first direct criticism of Morsi since he was enthroned in November as the spiritual leader of Egypt's Orthodox Coptic Christians. Christians make up an estimated 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people.

Tawadros said Morsi had promised him in a telephone conversation to do everything to protect the St Mark Cathedral, which also serves as the papal seat.

"But in reality he did not," Tawadros said. When asked to explain, he said: It "comes under the category of negligence and poor assessment of events." He did not make clear whether he was accusing Morsi himself of negligence or whether he was addressing the president's government.

In violence Sunday, an angry mob of Muslims threw firebombs and rocks at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, leaving two people dead. One of the two was identified as a Christian.

The attack followed a funeral service for four Christians killed in sectarian clashes in a town north of Cairo, which also left a Muslim dead, the deadliest sectarian violence since Morsi came to office as Egypt's first freely elected president.

Tawadros warned, "This is a society that is collapsing. Society is collapsing every day."

"The church has been a national symbol for 2,000 years," he said. "It has not been subjected to anything like this even during the darkest ages ... There has been no positive and clear action from the state, but there is a God. The church does not ask for anyone's protection, only from God."

Morsi strongly condemned the recent violence and said that he considered any attack on the cathedral to be an attack on him personally. He also ordered an investigation into the violence and revived a state body called the National Council for Justice and Equality mandated to promote equality between Egyptians regardless of their religious and ethnic background.

On Tuesday, four of his top aides visited the cathedral to offer their condolences for the victims of the violence.

A presidential statement issued late Tuesday reasserted Morsi's commitment to protect the Coptic church and to bring to justice those behind the violence. It described the president's order to revive the council as a "serious initial step."

Also in an earlier statement, the office of Morsi's assistant for foreign relations underlined that the presidency rejects violence "in all forms and under any pretext" and that "all Egyptians are citizens who should enjoy all rights and are equal before the law." It said the presidency has ordered authorities to "to exert their utmost efforts to contain the situation and protect the lives and property of citizens."

Speaking to reporters in Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell urged Morsi to make good on his promise of a full investigation and to make public the findings.

"The failure to prosecute perpetrators of sectarian crimes has contributed to an environment of impunity in Egypt, and so we are concerned," he said.

Still, Tawadros was critical of the promises of investigation and the revival of the justice and equality body. "Enough already of formations, committees and groups and whatever else," he said. "We want action not words and, let me say this, there are many names and committees but there is no action on the ground."

Long before the weekend's deadly sectarian violence, Tawadros has gone on record saying he was unhappy with the Islamist-backed constitution that was rushed to passage in a referendum in December.

But his criticism Tuesday was a powerful departure from the church's longstanding policy of avoiding confrontations with the government of the day. Pointedly, Tawadros added his praise of the sheik of Al-Azhar — another institution struggling to stay immune from the country's political battles — saying the sheik was the first to call him and express support amid Sunday's violence.

Al-Azhar, the centuries-old seat of Sunni Muslim learning, was hit by the turmoil last week. Students from Al-Azhar University stormed the office of the sheik of Al-Azhar, Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb, angry over a case of food poisoning in the university that sickened dozens. El-Tayeb was forced to remove the university's president.

Some Al-Azhar clerics and opponents of Islamists charged that the Muslim Brotherhood was behind the protests, trying to embarrass el-Tayeb. Some in Al-Azhar, which is touted as a center for religious moderation, believe the Brotherhood or more hardline Islamists want to replace el-Tayeb to install one of their own in the post.

In an interview with ONTV this week, an aide to el-Tayeb, Mahmoud Azab, suggested the protest seemed "politicized," adding, "We hope that is not the case... We hope that the path of Al-Azhar toward unifying the Egyptian people will not be obstructed" — though he later issued a statement insisting his comments were not directed at any group.

In a statement Saturday, the Brotherhood denied any role in the protest, blaming "counter-revolution forces who control certain media outlets" for spreading the idea to create tensions between the group and el-Tayeb.

"Our relationship is good, and our respect for the institution of Al-Azhar and its imam is immense," it said.

But the questions swirling around so many institutions at once have fueled the sense of instability among many Egyptians, on top of the country's mounting economic woes and the struggle to end lawlessness on the streets that has been pervasive since Mubarak's fall.

Some of Morsi's opponents have called on the military to step back in to a direct role in politics. The generals have said nothing publicly on such calls, but its leaders have made it clear on several occasions they were the ultimate guarantors of the nation's stability and would not hesitate to intervene if things go out of control.

Morsi's tussles with the judiciary — including a recent court order annulling his installation of a new top prosecutor late last year — have deeply divided the country. Opponents accuse Morsi of trying to undermine the courts, a claim the presidency denies, while Morsi supporters often depict some in the judiciary as counter-revolutionaries trying to stop his agenda.

In its statement Saturday, the Brotherhood blasted what it called "libel, slander and misinformation" that it said were aimed at causing divisions between the group and the military or judiciary.

"We have great faith in the wisdom of Egypt's national and religious institutions, and that they cannot be fooled by counter-revolutionary conspiracies that plot against the homeland and the people who have known the Brotherhood for decades," it said.

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AP correspondent Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

A North Korean commuter crosses a street in central Pyongyang on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

A North Korean soldier stands beneath roadside propaganda which reads "Let's Uphold the Military First Revolutionary Leadership of the Great Comrade Kim Jong Un With Loyalty" in Pyongyang on Tuesday, April 9, 2013. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea has completed preparations for a missile test that could come any day, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said as Pyongyang prepares to mark the April 15 birthday of its founder, historically a time when it seeks to draw the world's attention with dramatic displays of military power.

In Pyongyang, however, the focus Wednesday was less on preparing for war and more on beautifying the city ahead of the nation's biggest holiday. Soldiers hammered away on construction projects, gardeners got down on their knees to plant flowers and trees, and students marched off to school, belying a sense that tensions on the Korean Peninsula have reached their highest point since the Korean War ended nearly 60 years ago.

Last year, the days surrounding the centennial of the birth of Kim Il Sung, grandfather of the current ruler, was marked by parades of tanks, goose-stepping soldiers and missiles, as well as the failed launch of a satellite-carrying rocket widely believed by the U.S. and its allies in the West to be a test of ballistic missile capabilities. A subsequent test in December went off successfully, and that was followed by the country's third underground nuclear test on Feb. 12 this year, a step toward mastering the technology for mounting an atomic bomb on a missile.

The resulting U.N. sanctions have been met with an unending string of threats and provocations from the North, raising tensions on the peninsula to their highest point since the end of the Korean War in 1953, according to some experts.

The moves are seen as an attempt by North Korea to scare foreigners into pressing their governments to pressure Washington and Seoul to avert a conflict, and boost the militaristic credentials of its young and relatively untested leader, Kim Jong Un.

Pyongyang advised foreign embassies to consider evacuating their citizens by Wednesday, and warned tourists in South Korea to leave Seoul in case of an outbreak of war. However, most diplomats and foreign residents appeared to be staying put.

In Seoul, the defense ministry official said the North appeared prepared to carry out a missile launch at any time. He spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

He said Pyongyang's military is capable of conducting multiple missile launches involving Scud and medium-range Rodong missiles, as well as a missile transported to the east coast recently. He refused to say how Seoul obtained the information.

Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington on Tuesday that he concurred with an assessment by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., calling the tension between North Korea and the West the worst since the end of the Korean War.

"The continued advancement of the North's nuclear and missile programs, its conventional force posture, and its willingness to resort to asymmetric actions as a tool of coercive diplomacy creates an environment marked by the potential for miscalculation," Locklear told the panel.

He said the U.S. military and its allies would be ready if North Korea tries to strike.

Despite such tidings of war, the people of Pyongyang went about their daily lives.

Associated Press journalists in the North Korean capital saw soldiers wearing hard hats rumbling past in the back of a truck as they prepared for another day's work doing construction. In recent years, military personnel have been pressed into helping build the many urban renewal projects that have been prioritized since Kim Jong Un came to power in December 2011.

In a sign they have been diverted away from preparing for conventional warfare, they are commonly referred to as "soldier-builders," and are also called upon to help plant and harvest rice and other crops in a nation that suffers chronically from food shortages.

North Korea sporadically holds civil air raid drills during which citizens practice blacking out their windows and seeking shelter. But no such drills have been held in recent months, local residents said.

"I'm not at all worried. We have confidence in our young marshal" Kim Jong Un, a cleaning lady at the Koryo Hotel said as she made up a guest's bed. "The rest of the world can just squawk all they want but we have confidence in his leadership.

"We are resolved to stay and defend him until the end," she said. "It may be hard for the rest of the world to understand, and those who are worried are welcome to leave," she said in the typical nationalistic style that North Koreans use while talking to foreigners.

But there was no sign of an exodus of foreigners from Seoul or Pyongyang. Britain and other governments with embassies in Pyongyang said they had no immediate plans to withdraw but would continue assessing the situation.

North Korea has been escalating tensions with the U.S. and South Korea, its wartime foes, for months. The tightened U.N. sanctions that followed the nuclear test drew the ire of North Korea, which accused Washington and Seoul of leading the campaign against it. Annual U.S.-South Korean military drills south of the border have further incensed Pyongyang, which sees them as practice for an invasion.

Last week, Kim Jong Un enshrined the pursuit of nuclear weapons — which the North characterizes as a defense against the U.S. — as a national goal, along with improving the economy. North Korea also declared it would restart a mothballed nuclear complex.

Citing the tensions with Seoul, North Korea on Monday pulled more than 50,000 workers from the Kaesong industrial park, which combines South Korean technology and know-how with cheap North Korean labor. It was the first time that production was stopped at the decade-old factory park, the only remaining symbol of economic cooperation between the Koreas.

Pyongyang also has moved to its eastern seaboard what is believed by U.S. and South Korean intelligence to be a mid-range missile capable of hitting targets in Japan, such as the U.S. military installations on that country's main island. Another possibility is that Pyongyang would launch such a missile into the sea as a display of its military prowess.

The United States and South Korea have raised their defense postures, as has Japan, which deployed PAC-3 missile interceptors in key locations around Tokyo. And Locklear said the U.S. military would be ready to strike back if provoked.

One historian, James Person, noted that it isn't the first time North Korea has warned foreign embassies to prepare for a U.S. attack.

He said that in 1968, following North Korea's seizure of an American ship, the USS Pueblo,Pyongyang persistently advised foreign diplomats to prepare for a U.S. counterattack. Cables from the Romanian mission in Pyongyang showed embassies were instructed to build anti-air bunkers "to protect foreigners against air attacks," he said.

The cables were obtained and posted online by the Wilson Center's North Korea International Documentation Project.

Person called it one of North Korea's first forays into what he dubs "military adventurism."

"In 1968, there was some concern there would be an attack, but (the North Koreans) certainly were building it up to be more than it was in hopes of getting more assistance from their allies at the time," Person said by phone from Alexandria, Virginia.

"I think much of it was hot air then. Today, I think again it's more hot air," he said. "The idea is to scare people into pressuring the United States to return to negotiations with North Korea. That's the bottom line."

South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who has sought to re-engage North Korea with dialogue and humanitarian aid since taking office in February, expressed exasperation Tuesday with what she called the "endless vicious cycle" of Seoul answering Pyongyang's hostile behavior with compromise, only to get more hostility.

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Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, Nicole Winfield in Rome and Matthew Pennington, Donna Cassata and Richard Lardner in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow AP's Korea bureau chief on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean.