Pakistan

Islamabad, October 29: An Indian national has died in a Pakistani jail in “suspicious” circumstances, leading human rights activist Ansar Burney said on Thursday.

Indian national Suraj Singh died in suspicious circumstances at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore on Wednesday, Mr. Burney said.

The details about the exact nature of the death were immediately not available. Singh had been in jail for the past one year.

“His body is being sent for an autopsy today. I have demanded that there should be an independent and impartial inquiry into the death,” Mr. Burney said.

Karachi, October 29: Pakistan’s Sports Minister Pir Aftab Shah Jillani has revealed that former cricket captain Wasim Akram was not satisfied with the medical care provided to his late wife Huma by doctors in Lahore.

Huma, 42, passed away at a hospital in Chennai due to multiple organ failure after she was rushed there for treatment following a heart attack. The complications happened on board an air ambulance which had stopped at Chennai airport for refueling while taking her to Singapore for treatment.

Peshawar, October 29: Suspected militants exploded a car bomb in a market crowded with women and children Wednesday, killing 105 people and turning shops selling wedding dresses, toys and jewelry into a mass of burning debris and bodies.

The attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar was Pakistan’s deadliest since 2007 and came as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the country to offer support for its fight against a strengthening al-Qaida and Taliban-led insurgency based along the Afghan border.

Peshawar/Islamabad, October 28:More than 80 people were killed in Pakistan’s worst terror attack this year when a massive bomb blast ripped through a crowded market here Wednesday, hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a three-day trip to the country, local media reported.

Peshawar, October 28: At least 45 people were killed and over 100 injured when a massive blast ripped through a busy market in this Pakistani city Wednesday afternoon, shortly after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her three-day trip to the country.

The toll in the blast that occurred in Meena Bazar in Peshawar, the capital of the restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP), has climbed to 45, hospital sources told Geo TV. More then 100 people sustained injures and more casualties were feared.

Peshawar, October 28: At least 10 people were killed and over 60 injured Wednesday afternoon when a massive blast tore through a bustling market in this Pakistani city.

The explosion took place in Peepal Mandi in the old city of Peshawar, which is the capital of the restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Ten people were killed and 62 injured in the blast, DPA reported.

Islamabad, October 28: On her first visit to Pakistan as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday sought to chip away at anti-Americanism in this predominantly Muslim nation, while applauding the government for taking on violent extremist forces.

Peshawar, October 28: A doctor says the death toll in a market bombing in northwestern Pakistan has risen to 57.

Dr Zafar Iqbal says more than 100 people were wounded in Wednesday’s attack in Peshawar city.

The blast coincided with a trip to Pakistan by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

She was three hours’ drive away in the capital, Islamabad, when the blast took place.

—Agencies

Islamabad, October 28: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew into Pakistan on Wednesday, fending off criticism that Washington takes its efforts to fight Islamist militancy for granted and promising new investments.

Clinton is the most senior US official to visit the nuclear-armed Muslim state since US President Barack Obama put Pakistan at the heart of the fight against Al-Qaeda and made the war in neighbouring Afghanistan a top priority.

Islamabad, October 27: Pakistan’s army says 42 militants have been killed in the latest stage of its offensive against the Taliban close to the Afghan border.

A statement Tuesday says that troops were making steady progress in the 11-day old campaign in South Waziristan.

The fight is seen as a major test of Pakistan’s will and ability to tackle Islamist extremist sanctuaries in its northwest.

Lahore, October 27: Pakistani security forces have arrested an Indian national in the border area of Baidian near this eastern city.

A patrol of border guards arrested 25-year-old Rabi Paul when he was allegedly crossing into Pakistani territory at around midnight yesterday, Pakistan Rangers spokesman Nadeem Raza said.

“He is believed to be an agent of an Indian intelligence agency,” Raza said.

The arrested man was handed over to an intelligence agency for questioning.

Islamabad, October 27: A Pakistani Army Brigadier and two others escaped a terror attack unhurt Tuesday when the jeep he was travelling in was fired upon in this Pakistani capital.

According to eyewitnesses, the senior army official, along with his mother and driver, narrowly escaped the attack, which took place in sector I/9, Geo TV reported.

“The assailant was waiting for 15 minutes outside the army official’s home to launch the terror strike,” an eyewitnesses was quoted as saying.

The attacker fled from the scene.

Islamabad, October 27: Two gunmen opened fire on an army officer and his mother Tuesday in Pakistan’s capital but no one was hurt, police said. The attack was similar to one last week that resulted in an army officer’s death.

Islamist militants in Pakistan have staged several assaults in recent weeks against security forces, apparently to retaliate for the army’s offensive in their stronghold of South Waziristan, a tribal region along the Afghan border.

Quetta, October 27: Police say Pakistan has released 11 Iranian security officers held near the countries’ border amid tensions.

The Iranians were accused of illegally crossing the border.

Pakistani authorities say they were arrested Monday after shooting out the tires of a car carrying smugglers.

Their arrest followed a recent deadly suicide attack in Iran that Tehran alleges has links to Pakistani intelligence officials.

Authorities first said the 11 were members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, but later identified them only as security officers.

Islamabad, October 26: At least 11 soldiers and 40 militants died in fierce clashes in Pakistan’s troubled northwestern region, security officials said Monday.

Around half of the casualties occurred in the South Waziristan tribal district where nearly 30,000 soldiers have been fighting an estimated 10,000 Taliban guerrilla fighters for the last 11 days.

The army claimed on Monday that troops had secured the important village of Ghalai and the adjoining ridges, as they pushed deep into Taliban strongholds in the mountainous area borders Afghanistan.

Islamabad, October 26: Pakistani Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar says that his forces will defeat pro-Taliban militants based in the South Waziristan tribal area “within a month.”

“I am confident that the insurgents in South Waziristan will be flushed out within a month, but there may be more retaliatory attacks,” Mukhtar told The Sunday Times.

He made the remarks as Pakistani army troops are advancing on the militants’ main strongholds in South Waziristan from three directions.

On Sunday, Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani visited troops in Wana, the region’s main town.

Islamabad, October 26: Militant attacks killed six Pakistani security forces Monday, officials said, a day after the Taliban chief warned of terrorist strikes across the country if the army did not stop a major offensive against insurgents along the Afghan border.

Islamabad, October 26: After fleeing Pakistan’s latest war zone, grandfather Haji Abdullah had hoped for a warmer welcome when he reached safety.

“When they realise you’re a Mehsud, they treat you like a suicide bomber who’s wearing an explosive jacket,” said Abdullah, one of 120,000 people to have fled an anti-Taliban army offensive in the South Waziristan tribal belt.

“It’s simply humiliating,” added the 67-year-old, who travelled from his home in Makin, a Taliban redoubt, with five sons and seven grandchildren.

Islamabad, October 26: Fifteen more militants were killed in fighting with the security forces in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region as the battle rages on in the Taliban heartland, officials said Sunday.

In the past 24 hours till Sunday evening, 15 insurgents were killed in the area, raising the number of militants killed to 178 since thesecurity forces launched operation Rah-e-Nijat, or Path of Salvation, on Oct 17, the army said in a statement.

Lahore, October 25: Amid concerns by certain quarters in Pakistan over the “strings” attached to US aid, a key Congressional bill that triples American financial support to Islamabad to USD 7.5 billion in next five years has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

A petition filed by Zafar Ullah, chief of Watan Party in Lahore Registry of Supreme Court pleads that the Kerry-Lugar Bill, which was approved by the US Congress, compromises Pakistan?s sovereignty, the Online news of Pakistan reported today.

Srinagar, October 25: Demanding engagement of Pakistan in final resolution of Kashmir issue, PDP today called upon “liberal and democratic” forces in the country to reach out to their counterparts in the neighbouring country.

“The liberal and democratic forces in the country should reach out to their counterparts in Pakistan which is involved in a grim war against terror,” PDP patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said addressing a seminar in Budgam, 20 kilometres from here.

Islamabad, October 25: Target the suicide bombers before they are able to detonate the explosives strapped to their body, say Pakistani police after carrying out a research on suicide attackers’ behavioural patterns.

Pakistan has been hit by a wave of terror attacks as its army stepped up the offensive against the Taliban fighters in the country’s northwest.

“Be sharply attentive and alert and hit the suicide attacker before he hits his target,” states the counter strategy issued for the personnel of law enforcing agencies.

Islamabad, October 25: The Pakistani army says its troops have recaptured a strategic town from pro-Taliban militants at the start of the second week of their military offensive in South Waziristan.

On Saturday, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told reporters at a press conference that troops had entered Kotkai on Friday evening.

“The place was a stronghold of terrorists, with a majority of households turned into bunkers,” the Reuters news agency quoted Abbas as saying.

Islamabad, October 25: A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-filled car on a Pakistani motorway early Sunday, killing a patrol officer, the chief of motorway police said.

The attack took place near Lillah, about 140 kilometres (87 miles) south of the capital Islamabad, on a motorway which links several main cities and towns in Pakistan.

“A suicide bomber blew up his car, when he was intercepted near an interchange,” inspector general of the national highway and motorway police Waseem Kausar told AFP.

London, October 25: Taliban militants based in Pakistan’s restive South Waziristan tribal area, where the army has launched a major offensive, will be flushed out “within a month,” the country’s Defence Minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, has said.

“In the next 10-12 days we will see a rise in urban terrorism before things slowly go quiet again,” Mukhtar told ’The Sunday Times.’

He expressed confidence that the country’s forces will “defeat and eliminate” terrorists whatever the cost may be.