Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

India-Pakistan

Double suicide attack at Pak navy college kills 5

2008-03-05

LAHORE, Pakistan - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a prestigious naval college in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring 19, officials said. The blasts sent thick black smoke billowing over the college and scattered debris and human remains at the scene, which is just off the city’s historic Mall Road. Two buses and several cars caught fire afterwards. “Two suicide bombers attacked the naval college,” Lahore police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal told AFP. “The first drove into the security post and they opened fire. His head was blown over the wall into the naval compound by the force of the blast,” Iqbal added. “He cleared the way for the second bomber to drive into the parking lot where he also exploded himself.” Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said five people were killed and another 19 were wounded, according to initial reports. “The blasts were so huge they shook the windowpanes of my office opposite the college. I thought the building was collapsing,” Lahore lawyer Arif Saeed told AFP. Navy spokesman Captain Akbar Naqi confirmed there were two suicide bombers and said that one navy personnel was among those killed. The Naval War College trains senior naval officials from Pakistan and from other countries including China, Sri Lanka and at least a dozen Muslim nations.

Link

India-Pakistan

Pakistan army occupies Swat Valley

2008-02-27

Hardcore militants who seized Pakistan's most scenic valley are still holed up in its snowy heights, three months after President Pervez Musharraf sent in the army to show his resolve against spreading Islamic extremism. Down below, life in the towns that dot the Swat Valley has returned to something approaching normality. But bombings persist and Mullah Fazlullah, the firebrand cleric behind last year's Taliban-style uprising, remains at large. Earlier Pakistani security forces have arrested more than 440 Islamic "terrorists", including 60 would-be suicide bombers, in the last three months, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. The announcement comes amid a wave of violence blamed on al-Qaeda and the Taliban, including a suicide bombing near the Pakistani military headquarters on Monday that killed the army's surgeon general. "Law enforcement and intelligence agencies have arrested 442 terrorists and militants during the past three months," interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told reporters. Large quantities of explosives, weapons, suicide jackets and hand grenades were seized from the suspects, Cheema said. In November, the army launched one of its biggest operations since Pakistan threw its support behind the US-led war against terrorism six years ago. On Monday, the military ferried journalists by helicopter to three mountaintop positions to show the territory its more than 10,000-strong force has retaken. "About 90 percent of the area has been cleared of the (militants), and only about 10 percent, pockets of resistance, are remaining," said army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas. "They have taken to the heights. Hopefully those areas will be taken back soon." Fazlullah leads a banned extremist group that sent reinforcements for the Taliban when US forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001. In Swat, he used his own FM radio station to preach a harsh brand of Islam and won a large local following by pressing for the introduction of Islamic law in the poorly policed region. He took up arms in July, calling for holy war against the government, and used his thousands of followers to seize a string of towns, scattering outgunned police and erecting "Taliban station" signboards outside former police stations. The militant takeover was a shocking reflection of how Musharraf's government had lost control of tracts of the conservative northwest. Swat, formerly known as a tourist retreat and dubbed the "Switzerland of Asia" for its glorious Alpine scenery, became a no-go zone. Officials accused Fazlullah's long-haired, bearded followers of imposing a reign of terror, shuttering schools for girls and beheading locals who opposed them. They suspect that the militants, apparently supported by some foreign fighters with suspected links to al-Qaeda, were positioning themselves to block the Karakorum Highway that links Pakistan and China. Maj. Gen. Nasser Janjua, commander of the military operation, said troops backed by helicopter gunships and artillery took control of key militant positions and chased the fleeing fighters, mostly locals. He claimed that some shaved their beards and were nabbed as they tried to escape. At one mosque, troops found concealed in the ceiling a horde of chemicals, explosives and other equipment for making bombs. Elsewhere, they found and destroyed a jeep packed with explosives, apparently primed for a suicide attack. In all, the operation has left at least 11 soldiers, 19 civilians and about 230 militants dead, Janjua said. But he said the army had had little success in tracking the militant leaders, including Fazlullah, thought to be hiding somewhere in Swat or a tribal region bordering Afghanistan. While residents, at least in the valley's main town of Mingora, say they now feel more secure, the threat of attack persists. Janjua said a nighttime curfew was still necessary because of fears of targeted killings by militants of government supporters. At Uchrai Sar, where a 600-strong army deployment is based on a spectacular mountain ridge at the northwestern end of the Swat Valley, machine-gunners sit in dry stone bunkers scattered amid the pine forest. The camp lies near two of the four remaining "hotspots" in the valley, Beha and Piochar, where a hardcore of a few dozen militants are believed to have fled after they were dislodged in early January. Battalion commander, Lt Col Nadir Hussain, said there had been no major attacks on security forces for the past two months in the area, and elections here passed off peacefully last week. But in a reminder of the continuing threat, he pointed to a mountainside where a roadside bomb hit a wedding party just a mile away on Friday, killing 12 people. At another key mountaintop position, Shangla, the local police chief recalled how in November, his 250 officers had escaped their 10 posts in the district for fear they would be "captured and slaughtered" by Fazlullah's men. "The militants came in the hundreds. It was impossible for 20 men to defend the posts and the public," Mohammed Iqbal said. "We are trained for fighting crime, not guerrilla war and insurgency." The police force has been doubled and given new equipment but officials say the battle against Fazlullah can only be won if his fighters can find neither sanctuary nor recruits among locals. The army relies on villagers for intelligence. The locals "have not started fighting (the militants) yet, but at least they have started resenting them, telling them, 'Please go away,'" Janjua said.

Link

India-Pakistan

Bride among 14 killed in blast

2008-02-23

A remote-controlled bomb ripped through a wedding party convoy on Friday, killing 14 people and wounding 13 others in the Matta tehsil of Swat district, hospital and police sources said. The bomb, which detonated in the Ronial Takh Maira area of the region, exploded around 4pm when the wedding party was travelling from Kandogai village to Pir Dar Baba village. The bride, four children aged between five and 12 years, and four bystanders died instantly. The injured, mostly children, were shifted to Saidu Sharif Hospital as well as a private hospital in Matta tehsil. Hospital sources said most of the injured were in critical condition. Security forces reached the scene soon after the blast and cordoned off the area, local police said. “There was a remote-controlled bomb explosion which targeted a wedding party. Two cars were destroyed including the car in which the bride was travelling, [and] she died,” local police officer Haroon Khan told AFP. Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema confirmed that the bomb had targeted the wedding party. He and an ISPR spokesman had earlier said that eight people were killed in the bombing. This was the first such incident after the completion of the largely peaceful parliamentary elections on February 18. None of the militant groups have accepted responsibility and police have not made any arrests thus far.

Link

India-Pakistan

Operation launched to recover envoy Tariq

2008-02-15

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped three more people in Khyber Agency where the political administration began a crackdown against tribesmen to rescue Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin. The envoy went missing on his way to Afghanistan on Monday, and television reports said local Taliban had abducted him to trade him for their arrested commander Mansoor Dadullah. An official told Daily Times that the political administration arrested 12 men from the Jandakhel sub-tribe in Jamrud subdivision and impounded eight vehicles. Landi Kotal Assistant Political Agent (APA) Ahmad Khan Aurakzai told Daily Times there was no ‘operation’. Asked which part of the agency was being focused on, he said: “Search is underway all over the Khyber Agency.” Sources told Daily Times that Overlords of Delgon unidentified men carrying weapons abducted four Khasadar Force (tribal police) personnel and three other men in the Prang Sam area of Jamrud subdivision. They freed the Khasadar Force men after torturing them, sources said, and fled with the others. The Khasadars were on their way to the Torkham border with two Afghans who were to be deported, and a local resident who had to be interrogated. NWFP Governor Owais Ghani said Tariq Azizuddin had not been taken outside Khyber Agency and would soon be rescued because of “significant information” the government had received. He was talking to reporters after the convocation of the City University on Thursday. Tribesmen protest: Meanwhile, tribesmen from the Jandakhel tribe blocked the Peshawar-Torkham road to protest against what they called unlawful arrests of men from their tribe under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). The tribesmen blocked the road at the Kata Pushta area near Prang Sam post. They warned of more protests if the administration did not release their men and stop the operation in their area. Tariq Azizuddin had gone missing on his way from Peshawar to the Torkham border crossing on Monday when he lost contact with authorities in the Khyber Agency. The Khyber Agency political administration had said it was not informed Azizuddin would travel on the route. Reports said his vehicle was found in Landi Kotal. Geo television reported on Wednesday that local Taliban had claimed they had abducted him and would release him in return for Taliban commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah. Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Cheema told reporters on Wednesday that the government had not received any formal information indicating that Taliban had claimed responsibility.

Link

India-Pakistan

Attack on poll convoy kills two, injures three in Swat

2008-02-14

A roadside bomb blast hit an election campaign convoy in Swat on Wednesday, killing two people and wounding three. Mufti Hussain Ahmed, an independent candidate contesting for NA-30 and PF-86, was among the wounded. The injured were all rushed to Saidu Sharif hospital, where sources told NNI that Ahmed was in critical condition. “Ahmed was traveling in a convoy of 8-10 vehicles on a campaign when the blast occurred, killing two people,” said senior police official Waqif Khan. Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told AFP that only one person was killed. The government has blamed several recent blasts on Baitullah Mehsud, but Mehsud’s spokesman Maulvi Omar told Reuters on Wednesday that the local Taliban would not interfere in the elections and would not be involved in any attack before or on election day.

Link

India-Pakistan

Dozens dead in Pakistan as Musharraf scorns Al-Qaeda threat

2008-01-23

Islamic militants launched new attacks on border forts in Pakistan Tuesday, leaving seven troops and 37 rebels dead even as President Pervez Musharraf dismissed fears of a takeover by Al-Qaeda. The attacks in the rugged belt of mountains bordering Afghanistan underlined growing insecurity across the nuclear-armed nation and came just before a top US commander flew in for talks on tackling the rebels. Fighting has escalated sharply in nuclear-armed Pakistan since former premier Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last month, an attack blamed on an Al-Qaeda-linked tribal warlord based in the tribal region. In Paris for the second leg of a European tour aimed at shoring up his battered image, Musharraf dismissed fears that Pakistan could slip into Al-Qaeda's hands, saying there was a "zero percent chance" of a takeover. The only way for that to happen, he said, would be if Al-Qaeda or the Taliban "defeated the Pakistani army entirely" or if extremist religious groups won next month's elections. Musharraf has been keen to bolster his credibility as a pivotal ally in the fight against terrorism, which has garnered Pakistan more than 10 billion dollars in US aid since September 11, 2001. In the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi on Tuesday, Admiral William Fallon, head of US Central Command which deals with the Middle East, met Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kiyani for talks. "He (Fallon) remained with him for some time and discussed matters of professional interest with particular reference to (the) security situation in the region," a Pakistani military statement said. But Pakistan's claims about being tough on militancy have been undermined by the death of Bhutto and by the wave of violence, in which rebels have adopted a new tactic of massing by the hundreds to attack isolated military outposts. Militants early Tuesday tried to raid a fort and observation post at Ladha in South Waziristan, sparking a fierce four-hour gunbattle, chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP. "It was an intense attack," Abbas said, adding that five soldiers were killed and seven injured. He later said 37 militants were also confirmed dead. Two civilians were killed and five wounded when Pakistani jets later pounded suspected militant hideouts in Ladha, said injured resident Dildar Khan, who was brought to a hospital in neighbouring North Waziristan. A clash also erupted in North Waziristan's Razmak town, near Ladha, in which two security personnel were killed and six injured, the army's Abbas said. Last week militants overran another fort in the town of Sararogha in South Waziristan. The army, meanwhile, denied reports that troops abandoned a third border outpost in the region, in the village of Siplatoi. Abbas denied the army was planning an offensive against Baitullah Mehsud, the Al-Qaeda-linked warlord blamed by Pakistani and US officials for orchestrating Bhutto's killing at a political rally on December 27. Mehsud has denied any involvement in Bhutto's killing but warned Pakistani forces not to attack his stronghold and accused the army of killing civilians. "Pakistani forces will face the worst resistance if they try to enter my area," Mehsud said in a statement released by his spokesman, Maulvi Mohammad Omar. Meanwhile British detectives helping Pakistan probe the former premier's murder may question a teenage suspect and his alleged militant handler held in connection with the killing, officials said Tuesday. The 15-year-old, named as Aitezaz Shah, was arrested on Friday in the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan and allegedly told police he was part of a back-up squad tasked by Mehsud with killing Bhutto if an initial team failed. "The Scotland Yard team will be at liberty to interrogate the two suspects arrested from Dera Ismail Khan, as they are assisting us in Bhutto's assassination case," Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said.

Link

India-Pakistan

Investigators eye tribal elements

2008-01-12

Investigators on Friday said ‘tribal’ elements were behind Thursday’s suicide attack here, which killed 24 people, most of them policemen. However, they said it was too early to determine exactly who orchestrated the bombing. “It seems that the incident has links in the tribal region and Thursday’s blast was the handiwork of those who have carried out similar strikes in other parts of the country,” senior police officer Aftab Cheema told AFP. “The inquiry team is looking into all aspects of the crime and we hope to reach the bottom of the incident and those involved in it very soon,” he added. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a suicide bomber approached a group of about 60 riot police outside the Lahore High Court and detonated a device packed with ball bearings. Head and legs: “A head and legs found at the site of the blasts are being examined and DNA tested. His face is also being reconstructed by doctors,” Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Cheema said. He said banned outfits and extremist elements are behind the terrorist and suicide attacks, reported APP. Cheema strongly condemned the attacks, saying, “we will give strict and harsh punishment to these miscreants and anti-state elements who are behind these attacks. It will be a lesson for them.” Meanwhile, one of the seven-member investigation team told Daily Times on condition of anonymity that they had recovered a finger believed to be of the bomber, which has been forwarded to the National Database and Registration Authority to trace his identity through fingerprinting. Modern methods: The investigator said the matter was being pursued through modern forensic methods. He said investigators had collected three different types of ball bearings from the crime scene, adding that they were forwarding all collected body parts to the Institute of Microbiology at Punjab University for DNA testing. The officer said investigators were trying to find links between the bombings in Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore. Also on Friday, District Coordination Officer Muhammad Ijaz and Lahore Police Chief Malik Muhammad Iqbal visited hospitals to inquire about the well being of the injured policemen and citizens. They distributed Rs 20,000 to each of them on behalf of Punjab Chief Minister Ejaz Nisar.

Link

India-Pakistan

Strategy devised to eliminate Mehsud

2007-12-31

Security agencies have prepared a plan to eliminate local Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, ARY channel reported on Sunday. The government blamed the December 27 suicide attack on former premier Benazir Bhutto on Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a newly formed coalition of Islamic militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border believed to be linked to Al Qaeda. TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud has denied any role in this regard, saying it is against tribal traditions to kill a woman. To this, Interior Ministry spokesman Brig (r) Javed Cheema said, “Baitullah may deny his involvement in the murder, but we have solid evidences that he was behind the killing.” According to the channel, the plan will be implemented after the government gives a go-ahead in this regard. The channel quoted Interior Ministry sources as saying that the security agencies had prepared a plan to kill Baitullah after getting evidence about his involvement in the assassination. The operation would be carried out in South Waziristan, North Waziristan and certain other tribal areas, the channel said. Earlier, the government had also blamed Baitullah for the suicide attack on Benazir’s reception rally in Karachi on October 18 in which around 160 people were killed. Baitullah also denied that charge. Baitullah formed the TTP “to enforce Sharia and do defensive jihad against the Pakistan Army”.

Link

India-Pakistan

Sharif also at risk of attack: ministry

2007-12-29

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s interior ministry said on Friday that opposition leader Nawaz Sharif is one of several politicians under threat of attack following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. “There are other people who are under threat and whenever we receive information we pass it on to the concerned people,” ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told a news conference. It's almost as if he's warning people. Asked to give examples, he named Sharif as well as Islamist leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman and former ministers Sheikh Rashid and Aftab Sherpao.

Link

India-Pakistan

10 dead as angry mourners take to streets

2007-12-28

At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday as angry mobs took to the streets after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the Interior Ministry said. “The death toll in the unrest after Benazir’s death is 10, mostly in Sindh province,” ministry spokesman Javed Cheema said. He said four died in Karachi, four in rural Sindh and two in Lahore. Unconfirmed reports said a total of four people had been killed in Lahore. Sporadic gunfire could be heard echoing around the streets of Lahore. The markets and shops immediately closed down as paramilitary patrols roamed the streets in an attempt to keep a lid on the violence, a local police officer said. Rawalpindi tense: Gun-toting PPP workers took to the streets in Rawalpindi and opened fire on election offices of rival political parties. To minimise danger, several political parties shut down their election offices. A vehicle belonging to PPP supporters was also fired upon in the vicinity of Sadiqabad Police Station. Sindh situation grim: “Police in Sindh have been put on red alert,” said a senior police official. “We have increased deployment and are patrolling all the towns and cities, as there is trouble almost everywhere,” he added. In Karachi, police said protesters burned at least 70 vehicles. A large number of armed youth also attacked dozens of industries located in the SITE area and forcibly shut them down. “They are reacting severely and are opening fire on factories in which they see any sign of life,” said Rehan Ali, a factory foreman. Voluntary services, such as Edhi, were unable to move around the city to provide rescue services because mobs were rioting everywhere. Some ambulances were even vandalised and one was reportedly set ablaze. “We received information that mobs set fire to a garment factory in Ibhrahim Hydri and at least 300 workers were stranded inside, but we couldn’t get there because of the riots everywhere,” said Anwer Kazmi, secretary to Abdul Sattar Edhi. According to AFP, four policemen were shot and wounded in Karachi. Also in Karachi, a mob of more than 200 men started firing in the air outside a major shopping mall, a witness told Daily Times. The Dadu residence of former federal power minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi was attacked and set on fire. In Sukkur, several election offices and vehicles of various political parties were set on fire. PPP activists also blocked the Indus Highway, according to a Daily Times Monitor report. In Mirpurkhas, the Shah Latif Express was set alight. In Naudero, the Khushal Khan Khattak Express was set ablaze. In Panu Aqil and Larkana, railway stations were set on fire and hotels were attacked. In Tando Allah Yar, police opened fire on protesters. Jacobabad, the hometown of caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro, was also witness to rioting, as its main court, banks and other buildings were set on fire, an AFP reporter said. Road blocked: The mood was also tense in Benazir’s hometown of Larkana where two banks were set on fire, witnesses said. At least 20 vehicles were torched in Hyderabad. Police told Reuters they had been ordered to block the main road between Punjab and Sindh, apparently to stop the movement of protesters. Fearing renewed violence in Swat, officials clamped a curfew on the region, a local official told reporters. Protesters in Azad Kashmir blocked roads with burning tyres and chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf. Tear gassed: Separately, Peshawar police used tear gas and batons to break up an angry demonstration. More than 100 angry Benazir supporters blocked the main trunk road here, torching billboards and posters of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, before police moved in. Red alert: The government has also put its paramilitary forces on “red alert” across the country following the violent protests. Reuters also reported disturbances in Multan.

Link

India-Pakistan

Benazir Bhutto killed in suicide bombing: More

2007-12-27

Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader and former Prime Minister, has been killed in a suicide bombing on her political rally today. Murder most foul... Ms Bhutto had been addressing crowds at the garrison city of Rawalpindi, ahead of Pakistan's general election next month, when the bomber detonated his explosives, killing around 20 people. She was taken to hospital, but could not be saved. "At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Ms Bhutto’s party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital. Rehman Malik, a security adviser for her Pakistan People's Party, suggested that the killer opened fire as she left the rally, hitting her in the neck and chest, before blowing himself up. He blamed the government for failing to protect Ms Bhutto. "We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests," said Mr Malik. The exact nature of the attack remained unclear, however. "It may have been pellets packed into the suicide bomber’s vest that hit her," Javed Cheema, an interior ministry spokesman said. Russia and the United States both swiftly issued condemnations of the atrocity, which was being blamed on Islamic militants. A Russian foreign ministry spokesman predicted that it would bring fresh instability to the region, and trigger a fresh round of terrorist attacks. "The attack shows that there are still those in Pakistan trying to undermine reconciliation and democratic development in Pakistan," said an official from the US State Department. Wow. No kidding? Perhaps if a considerable part of "Pakistain" wasn't under the control of al-Qaeda or Taliban warlords the country might have some remote chance of missing failure, if only by a hair. But probably not, since the remainder of the country spends its time bumping each other off over matters religious and ethnic almost as much as do the primitives of NWFP and FATA. As news of her death filtered out, Ms Bhutto's supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan’s President, Pervez Musharraf. Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears. Breaking things is almost as characteristic of Pak political discourse as killing people. Islamic militants have vowed to kill Ms Bhutto, a secular politician and a proponent of women's rights who returned to Pakistan in October to contest parliamentary elections. Today's bombing is the second major attack on her since her return. Only took one to succeed, didn't it? A suicide bomber killed nearly 150 people on October 18 as Ms Bhutto paraded in an open-topped bus through the southern city of Karachi after returning home from eight years in self-imposed exile. On that occasion she missed injury by seconds after leaving the top deck of her bus to give an interview. The latest bombing was the second outbreak of political violence in Pakistan today. Earlier, gunmen inside the offices of a political party that supports Mr Musharraf opened fire on supporters of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, killing four. Earlier, gunmen inside the offices of a political party that supports Mr Musharraf opened fire on supporters of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, killing four, police said. Mr Sharif was several kilometres away from the shooting and was on his way to Rawalpindi after attending a rally. Ms Bhutto, 54, served twice as Pakistan’s prime minister between 1988 and 1996. She was born on June 21, 1953, into a wealthy landowning family. Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founded the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and was president and later prime minister of Pakistan from 1971-77. After gaining degrees in politics at Harvard and Oxford universities, she returned to Pakistan in 1977, just before the military seized power from her father. She inherited the leadership of the PPP after her father’s execution in 1979 under military ruler General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq. First voted in as prime minister in 1988 - the first woman ever to serve as prime minister of a Muslim country - Ms Bhutto was sacked by the then-president on corruption charges in 1990. She took power again in 1993 after her successor, Mr Sharif, was forced to resign after a row with the president. But Ms Bhutto was no more successful in her second spell as prime minister, and Mr Sharif was back in power by 1996. In 1999, both she and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, were sentenced to five years in jail and fined $8.6 million on charges of taking bribes from a Swiss company hired to fight customs fraud. A higher court later overturned the conviction as biased. Ms Bhutto, who had made her husband investment minister during her period in office from 1993 to 1996, was abroad at the time of her conviction and chose not to return to Pakistan. Mr Sharif meanwhile was deposed by General Pervez Musharraf in a military coup, and went into exile from which he too only returned in the last few weeks. In 2006 Ms Bhutto joined an Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy with her arch-rival Mr Sharif, but the two disagreed over strategy for dealing with President Musharraf. Ms Bhutto decided it was better to negotiate with him, while Mr Sharif refused to have any dealings with the general. Both had recently thrown themselves into campaigning for the multi-party parliamentary elections due to be held in Pakistan on January 8. Global stock markets fell on news of the killing, and the price of gold and government bonds rose.

Link

India-Pakistan

Madrassa bombing suspect arrested

2007-12-05

Authorities on Monday arrested the main suspect in the Qilla Saifullah madrassa bombing that killed six students, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. “The culprit involved in the explosion in a madrassa in Qilla Saifullah has been arrested and is under investigation,” said interior ministry spokesman Javed Cheema. Law and order: Addressing a press briefing, Cheema said the law and order situation had been improving fast in troubled areas and the government’s writ would soon also be re-established in the remaining pockets. Security forces killed 230 militants and arrested more than 90 others, including some foreigners, in Swat and Shangla in the last four months, the Interior Ministry spokesman said. He said Swat residents were cooperating fully with security forces for the restoration of peace in the area. The country has paid a heavy price for fighting terrorism in the area but the fight will continue, he added. Commenting on the burqa-clad woman who blew herself up in Peshawar on Tuesday, Cheema said she was the first woman suicide bomber in the country’s history.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More