Pakistan

Islamabad, December 04: Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a mosque packed with hundreds of Friday worshippers, including military personnel, in Pakistan’s garrison city of Rawalpindi after it was stormed by terrorists, killing at least 35 people and injuring 68 others today.

Terrorists, who used ladders to clamber over the walls of the Jamia Masjid near Parade Lane, lobbed grenades and fired indiscriminately at worshippers, including serving and retired military personnel, who had gathered for Friday prayers at the shrine near army’s heavily-guarded General Headquarters.

Rawalpindi, December 04: At least 26 people were killed in two simultaneous explosions in a mosque where hundreds of people, including Pakistani Army personnel, had gathered for Friday prayers. The explosions in this Pakistani garrison city were followed by gunfire, officials said.

Suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Parade Lane mosque, frequented by army personnel, near the Pakistan Army headquarters that had been the target of heavily-armed Taliban guerrillas Oct 10.

Islamabad, Dec 04: Pakistan opposes expanded U.S. drone attacks against militants on its tribal areas, as well as any strikes on Baluchistan, where Washington believes Afghan Taliban leaders are hiding, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

Missile strikes from pilotless drone aircraft have created fierce anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, a strategic ally Washington wants to crack down harder on Taliban fighters operating along the porous border with Afghanistan.

Islamabad, December 04: Gordon Brown faced a diplomatic rift with Pakistan after its Prime Minister rejected British accusations that it was not doing enough to hunt down Osama bin Laden.

Yousuf Raza Gilani insisted his security forces had not been given any “actionable” intelligence about the al-Qa’ida leader’s whereabouts and said he doubted whether bin Laden was even on Pakistani soil.

Rawalpind, December 03: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who has been named the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, on Thursday failed to get a reprieve from the Lahore High Court, which rejected his two petitions challenging his indictment in the carnage.

Mingora, December 03: Pakistani security forces killed at least 15 Taliban militants, including a commander, in clashes on Thursday in the volatile northwest near the Afghan border.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is under growing U.S. pressure to crack down harder on militants in border areas to help it fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, where President Barack Obama plans to send 30,000 more troops to try to put down an insurgency.

Peshawar, December 03: A bomb went off near a police check post in the suburbs of this Pakistani city today, injuring four persons, including three policemen.

The timed explosive device was planted beneath a bridge close to the check post in Regi area near the Peshawar University. The powerful explosion was heard from five kilometres away.

Ambulances rushed to the site to take the injured to nearby hospitals.

Officials said three policemen were among four persons injured in the blast, the latest in a series of attacks targeting security forces in Peshawar.

Peshawar, December 03: A bomb went off near a police check post in the suburbs of this Pakistani city today, injuring four persons, including three policemen.

The timed explosive device was planted beneath a bridge close to the check post in Regi area near the Peshawar University. The powerful explosion was heard from five kilometres away.

Ambulances rushed to the site to take the injured to nearby hospitals.

Officials said three policemen were among four persons injured in the blast, the latest in a series of attacks targeting security forces in Peshawar.

Islamabsd, Dec 03: LeT operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, has challenged his indictment by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court in Lahore High Court and claimed the prosecution does not have enough evidence to prove his involvement in the 26/11 strikes.

Lakhvi’s counsel filed two petitions in the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court yesterday challenging his indictment by the anti-terrorism court last month.

Islamabad, Dec 03: Pakistani security forces have killed 15 militants, including a senior commander, in separate clashes as they seek to rout the Taliban from strongholds in the country’s northwest, officials said Thursday.

The deadliest fighting was in Swat Valley, the site of a major military offensive this summer that was declared a success but has been the scene of sporadic violence since.

Ten suspects were killed in overnight fighting following a raid on a militant hide-out near the Swat Valley town of Kabal, Maj. Mushtaq Ahmed said.

Islamabad, December 03: Pakistan today asked the US to work closely with it to ensure that Washington’s new policy for Afghanistan, including a troop surge, does not affect Pakistani interests and security.

“Pakistan looks forward to engaging closely with the US in understanding the full import of the new strategy and to ensure that there would be no adverse fallout on Pakistan,” Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said.

Washington, December 03: US Vice President Joe Biden today said that the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban leadership are in Pakistan and the new Af-Pak policy is focusing on it.

“The ball is al-Qaeda. That’s the reason we’re there. They are in Pakistan. The Taliban leadership is in Pakistan,” Biden, who during the Bush Administration was sceptical of taking the eye off the ball, told the NBC Today television show in an interview.

Islamabad/Peshawar, December 02: Three militants, including a key pro-Taliban commander, were killed and six captured during operations in Pakistan’s restive tribal belt and the northwestern Swat valley today, while an army officer was injured in a skirmish in Waziristan.

Commander “Launcher” Mulla was killed along with two militants while five rebels were injured during operations by security forces in Kurram tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

Troops targeted militants at Dopak Super Kot in the central part of Kurram Agency.

Islamabad, December 02: Militants today struck Pakistan’s Naval Headquarters with a teenage suicide bomber blowing himself up at the gate of the complex here, killing a naval official and injuring three others, including a young boy.

In the brazen attack, the bomber approached the naval headquarters complex on Margalla Road, a key thoroughfare in the federal capital, on foot at 1.30 pm (local time) and blew himself up on being challenged by the guards, police said.

Islamabad, December 02: Just hours after President Barack Obama unveiled US’ Af-Pak policy voicing concerns that Pakistan has become a safe heaven for militants, a powerful blast occurred outside the Naval complex in Pakistan’s capital city.

According to reports, two suicide bombers, trying to enter inside the Naval complex, blew themselves when they were intercepted by the security guards at the main entrance of the Naval installation.

The Naval complex is located near Zafar Chowk in sector E-8 of Islamabad.

Washington, December 02: Defeated by the US-led international forces in Afghanistan, al Qaeda leaders have established a safe haven in Pakistan, President Barack Obama has said.

“After escaping across the border into Pakistan in 2001 and 2002, al Qaeda’s leadership established a safe-haven there,” Obama said in his Afghan-policy speech at the West Point Military Academy in New York.

Although a legitimate government was elected by the Afghan people, it has been hampered by corruption, the drug trade, an under-developed economy, and insufficient Security Forces, he said.

Berlin, December 01:Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised closer cooperation between their two countries Tuesday, and heralded the signing of a new economic agreement in Berlin.

Gilani is on a four-day visit to Germany to discuss economic cooperation, as well as the insurgency along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Islamabad, December 01: A suicide bomber killed a provincial parliamentarian in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday after walking into the official’s house along with guests and blowing himself up.

More than a dozen people were wounded in the attack in Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan, police said.

The army, battling a Taliban insurgency, launched an offensive in Swat in late April and says it has cleared most of the area, but it still faces pockets of resistance.

Islamabad, December 01: Adding to woes of President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s Supreme Court is expected to take up next week legal challenges to the amnesty granted to him and thousands of other people in graft cases under a controversial law which lapsed three days back.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is likely to constitute a special bench of the apex court next week to decide the fate of the people granted amnesty under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

Islamabad, December 01: The Pakistani military says it has discovered substantial evidence of Indian involvement in assisting pro-Taliban militants in the Khyber tribal region.

Khyber Agency area military commander Brigadier Fayyaz told reporters in Barra that they have found Indian-manufactured weapons and sophisticated ammunition, as well as some literature, during the ongoing offensive against the militants in Khyber Agency, a Press TV correspondent reported late on Monday.

Islamabad, Dec 01: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has arrived in Germany on a four-day visit to promote economic ties and discuss the campaign against terrorism.

Before leaving for Berlin, Gilani told reporters that Germany was Pakistan’s “important trading partner.” The main agenda of his visit is to strengthen bilateral relations, especially in the areas of trade, economics, science, technology, health, and education.

Islamabad, Dec 01: The Pakistani security forces say they have killed 17 pro-Taliban militants and injured several others in the northwestern Kurram tribal region.

“The security forces launched a pre-dawn attack against the militants in Dola Ragha area of central on Monday and have so far killed some 17 pro-Taliban militants,” a senior government official told.

During the onslaught, the army also destroyed five of the militants’ vehicles, including one belonging to one of their commanders.

Islamabad, December 01: Pakistan’s beleaguered President, Asif Ali Zardari, should immediately relinquish many of his powers, a prominent opposition politician said yesterday in the latest twist to a long-brewing crisis.

Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister of Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province, called on Mr Zardari to renounce, without delay, his powers to fire an elected government and appoint military chiefs.

Islamabad, November 30: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Monday said he, and not President Asif Ali Zadari, is running the country.

Zadari is under growing pressure to relinquish his sweeping powers that the premier is envisaged to have in the country’s original constitution.

‘I should tell you that I am the chief executive and the chief executive is the head of the government,’ Gilani said in an interview with DPA.

Lahore, November 30 : Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has that President Asif Ali Zardari to abolish the 17th Amendment of the Constitution and relinquish most of his powers.

The Independent quoted Sharif as saying that Zardari should, without delay, renounce his powers to fire an elected government and appoint military chiefs.

Recently, in an attempt to ease some of the mounting pressure, the beleaguered Pakistan president had announced that he was transferring command of the body that oversees the country”s nuclear arsenal to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.