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Showing posts from October 18, 2009

Eight people killed in Kamra suicide bombing

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Source: Daily Times Staff Report KAMRA: Eight people — including two security personnel — were killed and 15 others injured when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, rumoured to store planes carrying nuclear warheads. However, following the blast, an air force official dispelled these rumours.s. “Initial reports indicate six casualties, including the two security personnel and four civilians,” a press release issued by the Pakistan Air Force stated. However, Shaukat Sultan — head of the government hospital in Kamra — told Reuters that eight people had been killed and 13 wounded. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has accepted responsibility for Friday’s suicide attack and the target killing of Brigadier Moin in Islamabad on Thursday, a private TV channel reported. TTP spokesman Azam Tariq claimed these attacks in a telephonic conversation, adding his group would not rest until US sympathisers were eliminated. President A

23 killed in fresh wave of bombings in Pakistan

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Source: The Hindu Nirupama Subramanian — Photo: AFP  Pakistani security personnel gather at the bomb blast site in Peshawar on Friday. ISLAMABAD: A fresh wave of bombings in Pakistan on Friday, including one outside a military complex, killed at least 23 people, including many children, underlining that Taliban militants are increasingly hitting at both civilian as well as security targets in their war against the state. As the country’s security situation deteriorated, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani chaired a high-level meeting that was attended by Cabinet Ministers, Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI chief Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha, Chief Ministers and senior officials of all four provinces. Eight persons were killed when a suicide-bomber blew himself up around 7.30 a.m. at a checkpost near the Air Force-run Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at Kamra, 40 km west of the capital. Two Air Force personnel were among the killed. The others were civilians. The complex hou

What are the Waziristan war aims?

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source: BBC News For the Pakistani army, success in South Waziristan would almost certainly need follow-up operations elsewhere By M Ilyas Khan  BBC News, Islamabad The Pakistani army's push against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in the Mehsud tribal stronghold of South Waziristan has one paramount objective - to destroy the source of militant attacks in the country. The ground offensive that it launched in the region on Saturday is viewed by analysts as its most serious attempt so far to liquidate the militant network there. This conclusion is based on the tactics the army has adopted so far. Unlike previous operations which were invariably half-hearted, haphazard and abortive, it took its time to plan a thorough operation this time. Stronghold The ground offensive comes after a four-month siege of Mehsud lands, during which the civilian population was encouraged to leave the area and the mobility of the militants was restricted. The army wants to encourage 'so

Pakistan hits Taliban, urges NATO to seal border

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1 of 1 Full Size By Hafiz Wazir D ERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani helicopter gunships attacked Taliban bases near the Afghan border on Wednesday as the army urged NATO forces to seal the frontier to stem cross-border movement of militants. Pakistani forces launched an offensive to wrest control of the lawless South Waziristan region on Saturday after militants rocked the country with a string of bomb and suicide attacks in recent weeks, killing more than 150 people. Six people were killed in two suicide bomb attacks at the International Islamic University in the capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday, prompting authorities to order the closure of educational institutions across the country. The order to close schools unnerved investors in Pakistan's main stock market which was 2.36 percent lower at 9,342.91 at 0750 GMT. Remote and rugged South Waziristan, with its rocky mountains and patchy forests cut through by dry creeks and ravines, is a global hub for militants. Th

Pakistan Closes Schools, Colleges After Twin Bombings

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Source: Bloomberg By Khaleeq Ahmed and Ed Johnson Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan closed all schools and colleges for five days after two suicide bombers killed five people at a university in the capital amid an army offensive against Taliban guerrillas. Campuses will remain shut until Oct. 25 following the attack in Islamabad. “Educational institutions under the federal government are all closed,” Atiq-ur-Rehman, spokesman for the  Education Ministry , said in a phone interview from Islamabad today. Those run by provincial administrations and private institutions “have independently taken the decision” not to open. The attacks at the  International Islamic University  in southern Islamabad yesterday came as the army pressed on with its largest offensive against Taliban militants near the Afghan border. Pakistan is in a “state of war,” Interior Minister  Rehman Malik  said as he visited students wounded in the bombing, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported. He summoned a

Bangladesh drug firm chief jailed

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Source: bbc news The head of a Bangladeshi drugs firm has been jailed after a court denied him bail in a case related to the manufacture of toxic paracetamol syrup. The judge said the managing director of Rid Pharmaceuticals Mizanur Rahman had a role in the preparation of the toxic medicine which killed 28 children. The infants, all aged between 11 months and three years, died after being given the medicine earlier this year. Doctors confirmed that the syrup contained diethylene glycol. The chemical, used in the textile and leather dyeing industries, was mixed with paracetamol because it is cheaper than the normal solvent, the authorities say. The children died of kidney failure within six weeks of taking the medicine. All the victims lived in the eastern district of Brahmanbaria. Officials said they believed that the presence of diethylene glycol in medicine was also responsible for the deaths of as many as 300 people in Bangladesh in the 1990s.

Pashtun peace prophet goes global

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Source: BBC NEWS By Dawood Azami, BBC World Service Badshah Khan's message of peace is especially resonant today As the international community discusses its policies towards violence-stricken Afghanistan and Pakistan, a question arises time and again - how to pacify and win the support of the Pashtun population? Pashtuns are commonly known for their warrior nature and martial history. But they also produced one of the most successful non-violent movements of the 20th Century, which resisted British colonialism in what is now Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and tribal areas. The dramatic story of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the founder of the little-known pacifist movement, has been told for the first time in a major international documentary film called The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace. The 90-minute film, premiered in the third edition of the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF 2009) in Abu Dhabi, is produced and directed by

Tough task of vanquishing Taliban

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Source: BBC NEWS The military wants to finish its operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan within two months By Syed Shoaib Hasan  BBC News, Dera Ismail Khan Make no bones about it, Pakistan's army is deadly serious about its operation against the Taliban in the lawless tribal area of South Waziristan. It has deployed thousands of troops and a vast array of weaponry for what it knows is a crucial battle for the future of the Pakistani state. But despite all these measures, it increasingly appears that traditional factors in this remote mountainous region bordering Afghanistan will be decisive.   The role of the military specialised units like its mountain units and the special forces will be critical   Ex-military officer Eyewitness: At the edge of war "Ultimately it will come down to the terrain and weather," says a senior government official based in the region. "The timing of the operation is not the best and the forces will have to push fa