Pakistan human rights worker Khalid Khawaja found dead

The body of a Pakistani human rights activist has been found in the North Waziristan tribal area, weeks after he was reportedly kidnapped by militants.

Officials said Khalid Khawaja's body was found in a ditch near the town of Mir Ali on Friday afternoon. He had been shot in the head and chest.




A note attached to the body claimed that Mr Khawaja - a former Pakistani intelligence officer - was a US agent.


It said that if "someone tries to spy for America this will be his fate".
Mr Khawaja, along with two other men, had been missing for several weeks after traveling into North Waziristan.

A group calling itself the Asian Tigers later said it had kidnapped all three.
The The group is thought to be a front for the Pakistani Taliban, who in effect control most of the Waziristan tribal region.

A video was released of Mr Khawaja before his death in which he was seen confessing that he was a CIA and Pakistani agent.

His captors had been demanding a ransom and the release of Taliban militants in exchange for the release of the men.

In recent years Mr Khawaja had campaigned for the release of dozens of people who have allegedly been taken into unofficial custody in Pakistan.

Pakistan Taliban militants 'reappear' in Swat valley

Taliban militants have resumed targeted killings of local leaders in Pakistan's troubled Swat valley, officials have told.

Pakistan's army declared the Swat valley free of militants after carrying out an anti-Taliban operation in 2009.
A Pakistani army spokesman said three people had died in attacks over the last 10 days. Local journalists say that seven have died in 15 days.


The militants were effectively in control of the region from 2007.
In 2009, they started to expand their power across North West Frontier Province, prompting the army to launch its offensive.


"There have been three incidents of targeted killings," Col Akhtar Abbas, head of the army public relations in Swat, told.
 
"But these incidents do not mean that the Taliban can return in any organized form to the Swat valley. The army is confident of this."

Some of those killed are members of a local peace committee, which is supported by the military.
Col Abbas said that the militants involved in the attacks "have been dealt with".
"We carried out an operation after a tip-off and killed the four of them," he said.
However, there are differing accounts of the incidents.

Several local people said at least one militant had escaped after a prolonged gun battle.
They say that fears remain about the level of security provided by the army.
"Things have not improved and business is not good," said a local restaurant owner known as Mr Khalid.
"We cannot even imagine that tourists will come here.

"How can things be better if there are still suicide bombings and people are being killed every few days?"
But despite these concerns, conditions have improved considerably in Swat since the military operation ended in July 2009.

Hotels and businesses are slowly starting to re-open.
But fear and uncertainty - heightened by the recent killings - still prevail.

Kidnapped Oldham boy Sahil Saeed found safe in Pakistan

 The family of a five-year-old British boy who was kidnapped while in Pakistan say they are "ecstatic" after he was found safe and well.

Sahil Saeed, from Oldham, had been snatched from his grandmother's house in Jhelum by armed robbers on 3 March.
Greater Manchester Police said he was left near a school at 0410 GMT on Tuesday, before wandering into a field where he was found by locals.
The family in Oldham said they were "over the moon" at his release.
"The whole family is ecstatic. They are currently taking in the news and want to celebrate as a family," a spokesman said.
Sahil's mother, Akila Naqqash, said her son had seemed "normal" when she had spoken to him on the telephone, and that she was "gobsmacked" at his reaction to his ordeal.
She said: "Obviously [he had] been held for 13 days, and the way he spoke to me like nothing happened - it's normal, the way he spoke and everything. He's going on and on and on about his toys and his sisters and everything - a normal little boy."

She also revealed that she had not left her house during the entire time that her son had been missing.
"Obviously you think, who these people are, will he be treated well, how's he coping, things like that.
"But now it's said he's unharmed, been looked after very well, which is really, really good, the way I wanted it as well.
"That's really reassured me, I'm really glad about that report. I'm just waiting for my little boy to come back - that's all I want now."
Police said that Sahil had also spoken by phone to his father.
Sahil was found 20 miles away from Jhelum, near a village school in the town of Dinga in the Gujrat district, local police said.
Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thompson of Greater Manchester Police said members of Sahil's family were due to fly to Pakistan as soon as possible to bring him back to the UK.
He said: "At this time, I believe he is well, considering the terrible ordeal that he will have been through."
Sahil is now with family in Pakistan and with Pakistani police, ACC Thompson added. He also said that while police did not expect to make imminent arrests in the UK, there could be arrests in other parts of Europe.
He said "things were moving very quickly" in relation to the investigation and that he was unable to comment on whether a ransom had been paid, because of the ongoing criminal investigation.

 "Greater Manchester Police and the Pakistani authorities are still determined to bring people to justice and that will be a high priority in the coming hours, days and weeks," he said.
The boy had been visiting relatives with his father, Raja Saeed, who returned to the UK last week, against the wishes of Pakistan's police.


The British High Commissioner in Islamabad, Adam Thompson, said Sahil's release was "fantastic news".
"It brings to an end the traumatic ordeal faced by Sahil Saeed's family," he said.
"I would like to praise the high level of co-operation between the UK and Pakistani authorities and in particular I would like to thank the Jhelum police for their role in bringing about the safe return of Sahil."
The Foreign Office said it had no further details of the release at present.
Sahil was taken when robbers broke into his grandmother's house. Up to 10 family members inside the house were said to have been beaten by the intruders during a six-hour ordeal.
The robbers then took items believed to be jewelery and money and fled with the boy.
The raiders had apparently demanded a £100,000 ransom for the boy's return, but his family had said there was "no way" they could afford any such payment.

Kidnapping was not rare in Pakistan, and even when ransoms were handed over, such cases did not always end happily.
The policy of the Foreign Office is that it does not pay ransoms and it advises others not to do so.
The law minister of Punjab province, Rana Sanaullah, was asked on ARY TV on Tuesday whether Sahil's father had paid a ransom to secure his child's release.
He said the money had been paid "not in Britain, but in another country".


Jane Sheridan, head teacher at Rushcroft Primary School, said: "We are delighted to hear that Sahil has been released safe and well.
"Along with his family, we eagerly await his return to Oldham, and back to Rushcroft where he has been missed by his friends and teachers."
Last week, relatives of the boy spoke of their anguish after false reports that he had been found and handed over to his father.
His uncle, Raja Khalid Bashir, said at the time that it was "like losing him a second time".
In Oldham, Sahil's mother had appealed to the kidnappers for the safe return of her son, saying: "I just want my son back. All is forgiven, I will forgive you."
After Sahil was taken, several men - including a taxi driver - were arrested.
Four police officers have been suspended for not initially responding to the family's emergency call.
But Aleem Maqbool said it is now clear that the police do not have any suspects in custody.

Taliban claims deadly suicide attack in Pakistan

The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 13 people and injured dozens in the northwest part of the country Saturday, authorities said.
The attack at a security checkpoint in the city of Saidu Sharif injured 37, according to Ibrahim Khan, a police official in the Swat District, where the military launched an offensive against the Taliban last year. The city is near Mingora, the largest city in the district.
Khan said the suicide attacker, who was dropped off on a rickshaw, approached a checkpoint manned by police and military personnel.
Security personnel opened fire when the attacker refused to stop. Moments later, the attacker detonated explosives.

Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, told by phone that his organization takes responsibility for the deadly blasts in Lahore on Friday and the attack Saturday.
The Saturday blast comes a day after a twin suicide bombing on a military convoy in Lahore killed 44 people and injured nearly 100 others. Assailants targeted military convoys, approaching on foot and detonating their explosives 15 to 20 seconds apart, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah said. Five of the dead were Pakistani soldiers, he said.
"Pakistan has become a colony of Blackwater," Tariq said, referring to the company now known as Xe Services that provided security to U.S. officials in Iraq.
"The government of Pakistan has become puppet of U.S," he added.
Tariq warned that failure to halt operations against the Taliban will lead to more attacks.
"Our 2,000 suicide bombers, who have already spread across the country, will act against security personnel and government installations," Tariq said.
Tariq said the attacks on both days were a retaliation for the killing of innocent "Mujahedeen" by Pakistani government under the orders of the United States. A Pakistani crackdown on militants has resulted in the arrests of top Taliban.
After the twin bombings Friday, a series of low-level blasts occurred in succession in the Iqbal Town area of the city that night. Three people were injured in the blasts and damage was minimal, Lahore Police said.

Earlier this week, gunmen entered a North West Frontier Province compound of the humanitarian agency World Vision, threw grenades, opened fire on the staff inside and detonated a homemade bomb before leaving, according to a World Vision statement.

Pakistan 'suicide bombers' kill 45 in Lahore

 Two suicide bombers have killed at least 45 people in the Pakistani city of Lahore, officials say.

The attacks occurred within seconds of each other and targeted military vehicles as they passed through a crowded area.
At least nine soldiers were killed and some 100 people were wounded.
There have been several attacks on Lahore in the past year. On Monday

the Taliban destroyed a building used by intelligence services, killing 13.
The explosions took place near the RA Bazaar, in a busy residential and
 shopping area where army and security agencies have facilities.
No group has said it carried out the bombings.
'Smoke rising everywhere'
Officials said the blasts took place within 15 to 20 seconds of each other.

There are conflicting reports about whether the two bombers rode motorcycles or were on foot.
Police official Chaudhry Mohammad Shafiq said the severed heads of both attackers had been found. Suicide bombers often strap explosives to their bodies and are decapitated when they detonate.
An eyewitness, Mohammad Nadeem, said he had been praying in a mosque when he heard the first blast and rushed out only to hear a second.
"The second blast took place very near a military vehicle," Mr Nadeem, his clothes stained with blood, told AFP news agency.
"I sensed real danger and started running. There were scenes of destruction in nearby restaurants and shops.
"There were broken chairs and tables and other items lying everywhere on the ground."
Another eyewitness, Afzal Awan, said he had seen wounded people with limbs missing lying in pools of blood.
"I saw smoke rising everywhere," he told reporters. "A lot of people were crying."
Taliban threat
After Monday's attack, the Pakistani Taliban promised to unleash up to 3,000 suicide bombers across the country unless Pakistan's army stopped its operations against the militant group and US drone strikes ended.

Pakistan has been fighting insurgents in the volatile tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The military recently stepped up operations against the Taliban leadership, arresting the military commander of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was hiding in the southern city of Karachi.
A number of other top figures in the Afghan Taliban are also reported to have been arrested across Pakistan over the last few weeks.
In the last six months, hundreds of civilians have been killed in militant attacks across the country. The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says there are no signs the violence is coming to an end.
Last October simultaneous assaults on three security buildings across Lahore killed 38 people.
In December, two bomb blasts at a market in the city killed 48 and injured more than 100.

British boy kidnapped in Pakistan for £100,000 ransom

 A five-year-old British boy has been kidnapped by armed robbers in Pakistan, local police have said.

Sahil Saeed, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, was abducted in Jhelum, where his family were on holiday.
Robbers broke into where they were staying, in Punjab province, on Wednesday night and have demanded a ransom of about £100,000.

The British High Commission is in touch with his family and local authorities have launched an investigation.
George Sherriff, a spokesman for the commission in Islamabad, said they were "continually monitoring the situation".


The spokesman said the family had been due to fly back to Britain on Thursday following a two-week visit.
The boy's father, Raja Naqqah Saeed, had been visiting his mother in Pakistan with Sahil.

They were about to leave for the airport to return to the UK at 2300 local time (1800 GMT) on Wednesday when four men - armed with guns and a grenade - approached the house.


Up to 10 family members inside the house were beaten by the intruders in a six-hour ordeal during the night.
The robbers eventually fled with the boy, demanding a ransom equivalent to £100,000. They also took household items, believed to be jewelery and money.

The intruders said they would be back in touch at 0700 GMT, although the boy's father said he had not heard from them.


Mr Saeed, who has been based in the UK for about seven years, told that his son, who only speaks English, was a child who "loves everyone".

"I don't have any money at all. They can take me if they want - just let my son come back," he said. "I am nothing without him."

And, speaking at the family's home in Oldham, the child's mother, Akila Naqqash, said there was no chance her family would be able to pay the ransom.


Fearing for the safety of her "bubbly" child, the boy's mother said she had no idea why her son had been targeted.

She said: "Sahil is a really quiet child - he's no harm to nobody. Why would they want to take my son? What have we done? We've done nothing wrong. This is a normal holiday. Every family takes a holiday.

"How is he coping with strangers? Four grown men. I don't know what they are doing to him. I just want him back."

Jane Sheridan, head teacher of Rushcroft Primary School, which Sahil attends, said everyone was "deeply concerned" about his welfare and they were doing all they could to support his family.

Punjab police are taking this very seriously and a large team is working on the case.


He says the chief of police is now involved and officers think the kidnapping is unlikely to be the result of a family feud or a personal grudge.

Our correspondent says there are isolated incidents of kidnapping in Pakistan by criminal gangs who want to make money, occasionally linked to militant groups.

However, he says there is nothing to suggest this is the case in this kidnapping.

Our correspondent says Jhelum is not in a tribal area and is a relatively safe part of Pakistan, where many British Pakistanis are from.

He says police are confident they will bring the case to a successful conclusion.

Another Taliban leader captured in Pakistan

At least one Afghan Taliban leader has been seized in neighboring Pakistan by security forces, sources told Thursday.

Mullah Abdul Salam was arrested last week, according to Afghan government officials, Taliban sources and a U.S. official.

"The Taliban is down another shadow governor," the American source said late Wednesday, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the information.

The news came against the background of an intensified U.S.-led campaign against insurgents on both sides of the border.

Taliban fighters are resisting an allied military push into area they control in Helmand province in the south of Afghanistan, a military operation called Moshtarak.

According to British Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, it will the NATO-led force "another 25 to 30 days to secure that which needs to be secured" in the region, and a further three months after that to be sure insurgents are being kept out.

But Operation Moshtarak has reached "the end of the beginning," he said in a briefing from Afghanistan broadcast by the Pentagon Channel. "The insurgent was entirely dislocated within 24 hours" of the insertion of troops by helicopter, he said.

The Nad-e Ali district is "broadly secure," he said, but there is still Taliban resistance in Marjah. "It will be some days before we can be completely confident that Marjah is secure," said Carter, the International Security Assistance Force's head of Regional Command South.

Ten civilians were killed on the second day of the operation, he said. Reports at the time said 12 were killed.

"They (Taliban) know this is their last stronghold. They're not backing down," .

The crackle of small arms fire and the whoosh of outgoing mortar rounds from the Marines were clearly audible on the line as she described the battle.

"About five minutes ago Taliban started attacking our area," she said shortly before 8 a.m. ET. "The Taliban are not giving up -- they seem to be coming out in squads, (but) they know they can't group together in large numbers" because it would make them easier targets.

The Taliban seem to include "foreign fighters who will fight to the death," she said.

Across the border in Pakistan, four people were killed and five were wounded Thursday when a drone fired on a suspected militant compound in Pakistan's tribal region, intelligence sources and a local political official told .

The four who were killed were suspected militants, two intelligence officials told . It was not clear whether the wounded were also militants.

The remote-controlled aircraft fired two missiles at the compound, which is in the Danday Darpakhel area of North Waziristan, one of seven districts in the tribal region along the Afghan border, the sources said. They asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The U.S. military does not comment on reported attacks by the pilotless aircraft, but the United States is the only country operating in the region known to have the ability to launch missiles from drones.

Mullah Salam, the Taliban commander, was arrested in Pakistan, the Afghan government and Taliban sources agree, but they named different cities as the location of his capture. Gov. Muhammad Omar of Afghanistan's Kunduz province said Thursday he was detained in Quetta -- where the Afghan Taliban reportedly has its leadership councils. The Taliban sources said he was nabbed in Faisalabad.

Salam is believed to be the Taliban commander for Kunduz province, Omar said.

He was directing Taliban military operations in the province, including ordering terrorist actions, mine planting and suicide attacks, said Abdul Razaq Yaqubi, the chief of police in Kunduz.

Yaqubi said Salam and another Taliban "shadow governor," Mullah Salih, were arrested in the Pakistani city of Peshawar last week. He said the information came from Pakistani authorities.

Salih was the shadow governor of Baghlan province, the police chief said. There was no immediate confirmation of Salih's arrest.

Word of Salam's arrest comes days after news of the capture of the Afghan Taliban's reputed second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Taliban sources and Omar said several other suspected members of the Afghan Taliban were arrested with Salam, but their identities are not clear.

Top Judge Suspends President’s Judicial Appointment in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A simmering power struggle rule Pakistan erupted concernment open confrontation on Saturday, when the country’s top judge clashed with President Asif Ali Zardari owing to a judicial appointment.

The ventilate considering the choice of a Supreme Court judge is part of broader political battle between Mr. Zardari besides the opening judge, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a lusty body who has opened old corruption cases inveigh Mr. Zardari and his allies.

It was not bright on Saturday night whether the standoff would deepen affection crisis, or be stubborn peacefully by Mr. Zardari furtherance down from his position, which officials of his party said simply followed valid precedent check by the court itself in 1996. overdue Saturday, Mr. Chaudhry suspended the work of the Supreme court next lastingness to take up the matter.

The dispute centers around a constitutional ambiguity since how top judges are appointed in Pakistan. beneath Pakistani law, the controller has the proper to appoint justices to the Supreme Court, but itch see duck the chief justice.

On Saturday, Mr. Zardari named the primary judge of the Lahore High Court, Khwaja Sharif, to fill an spring on the super Court, rail the wishes of Mr. Chaudhry. Within hours, Mr. Chaudhry had convened an emergency legal panel, which ruled to suspend Mr. Zardari’s order, openly defying the president’s command.

But analysts debate the details are less capital than the fact that the debate pits a weak, unpopular president rail a powerful tough justice. Cyril Almeida, a columnist seeing Dawn, an English-language newspaper, spoken he did not lap up that this standoff would explode affection crisis, but that positive represented a worrying trend.

The pursue juncture the two openly clashed was last year, when Mr. Chaudhry led a national demanding jaunt to do Mr. Zardari to reinstate him as chief conciliator. Mr. Chaudhry eventually prevailed, gaining immense homage money the process. “This is part of a larger power striving being fought in immensely personalized terms,” Mr. Almeida said.

“It doesn’t look good,” he greater. “Two sides digging power their heels. Something’s got to give.”

Senior officials in Mr. Zardari’s carouse said that Mr. Chaudhry was plainly playing politics, behavior that has begun to alienate some of his former supporters, including the country’s introduction human rights advocate.

Much will depend on the position of the opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, who faced a similar situation over prime administer ascendancy the belated 1990s. An aide to Mr. Sharif said on Saturday that Mr. Sharif had warned Pakistan’s prime minister, who is also a chip of Mr. Zardari’s party, that the president should “act according to the recommendations of the tops justice.” But that advice was not heeded, the aide said. Mr. Sharif called a meeting of his party through Sunday.

US Missiles Kill 5 in NW Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Pakistani understanding officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed five people leverage the country's northwest near the Afghan border.

Two intelligence officials add two missiles were attracted Sunday thing a house in Naurak village in North Waziristan, an area dominated by militant groups blamed as launching attacks on American forces across the brim effect Afghanistan.

The CIA has rained down missiles on houses, bunkers further training centers in the Pakistani girdle after a bomber killed seven of its employees late draw out go in Afghanistan.

The intelligence officials say the identity of the relatives killed leverage the strike is not somewhere known.

They spoke on aspect of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

THIS IS A BREAKING ammo UPDATE. okay back soon for further knowledge. AP's earlier story is below.

ISLAMABAD (AP) -- A choice by Pakistan's pre-eminent expert to strike lonely a presidential edict appointing two rise judges triggered warnings Sunday of a farther conflict between the justice and the government that could lead to broader political instability.

President Asif Ali Zardari's expounder dismissed rumors the government was make-up to declare a state of emergency after the court destitute his appointments at a special gig late Saturday, just hours after they were announced.

The development will concern Pakistan's Western allies who enthusiasm the country to concentrate on battling al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the northwest. The stability of the nuclear-armed nation is also key to Washington's hopes of defeating the insurgency rightful across the border in Afghanistan.

In an indication of the threats facing the country, an bewailing ripped considering a tied up intersection in southern Pakistan on Sunday, killing three people in an area that has mostly avoided violence in the past.

The blast, which was still being investigated, again bunged up nine people control Sindh province's Dadu city, hospital for real Rafiq Kolachi said.

If authorities determine the blast was caused by a bomb, it would be a appetizing attack influence Sindh frontage the provincial pre-eminent of Karachi. The emigration of violence beyond Pakistan's northwest, where most Taliban militants are located, has been a growing problem for the country.

The latest brawl between Zardari and the Supreme umpire could add to those problems. The standoff follows bygone clashes between the two sides.

The prime Court zinged down an amnesty in December that had been shielding Zardari and several other exceeding politicians from graft allegations dating back to the 1980s. Earlier run on year, the captain was forced to reinstate the court's chief justice, who was fired by former President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, after demonstrations that viperous his political vulnerability also the clout of the judiciary.

Saturday's ruling came after Zardari appointed a new tops Court adjudicator and unparalleled of the Lahore invaluable Court, going against the recommendation of the Supreme Court. Pakistan's constitution says the bigwig requirement consult with the unrivaled wig as the appointment of new judges.

The lordship decree said no consultation had prejudiced lay foundation and Zardari's appointments ''appeared to equate effect violation of the provision of the constitution.''

Deputy defender simple tycoon Khawar oral officials were summoned to appear this Thursday to examine why the order had been issued against the court's recommendations.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said the lion issued the order only after consulting the chief justice. ''We have always acted constitutionally. We will take any step in future since required by the law besides constitution.''

Some TV channels quoted ascendancy critics in that saying the nine-to-five of the judges could be used being the birth for a additional challenge against Zardari's hold on the presidency. particular media oral Zardari may have to accept a humiliating backdown and agree to the court's recommendations on the appointments, while and criticizing the court for escalating political tension ropes the country.

''Historically, clashes between these two institutions have led to malicious consequences for democracy and constitutional continuity in the country,'' the respected Dawn newspaper verbal string an editorial. ''The fate of a high referee quarterback here or a retired super critic assessor there should not hold the country's political future hostage.''

Pakistan's lawyers and judges take it always played a role in the political life of the country. Protests by lawyers were credited with splinter oust Musharraf.

While undertaking operations against militants in the northwest, the Zardari government had been widely criticized for mistake to make a dent in the country's important economic and social problems. Elements within the military are also believed to serve as angry at him being being too effectuate to the United States besides longtime foe India.

Meanwhile, a top Pakistan Taliban commander, Qari Hussain, claimed responsibility since twin suicide bombings last week facade a police station in the northwestern town of Bannu that killed 15 people. It was the latest of big attacks by militants on security forces for the past diversiform years aimed at undermining the public's mind in the already-weak state.

2-Bomb Blasts in 2-hours at Karachi ,Pakistan

There are two bomb blasts in last 2-hours at Karachi,Pakistan. One blast was in a bus in a public gathering on road and 2nd is on gate of emergency of Jinnah Hospital. Details are coming....

Killed 22 in 2-motorcyle bomb attacks, as per details so far.

The attack, involving a motorcycle bomb, targeted a bus carrying Shia Muslims to a religious procession. About 50 were injured.

It took place on the main road of the country's commercial centre.

Friday is the last and most important day of the Arbaeen religious festival, 40 days of mourning for the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

It was not clear whether the bomb was rammed into the bus by a suicide bomber or the motorcycle was parked by the side of the road.

Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmad said it was too soon to say what exactly had happened.

"We are examining the site. We are collecting the evidence. We are taking witness statements and then we will say something concrete," he said.

Security cordon

The bus was one of dozens used to transport Shia mourners from all over the city to a central procession.

The attack happened on a commercial street near the main Sharah-e-Faisal road connecting Karachi airport with the city.

The main mourning procession is being held on MA Jinnah Road, which is guarded on all sides by heavy security to prevent a repeat of an attack on a Shia march in December which killed 43 people.

But the attacker on Friday chose a different target, away from the security cordon.

Mr Ahmad said the procession was continuing despite the attack.

There were reports of a second explosion outside Jinnah hospital where injured people from the first blast had been taken.

Sectarian tension between the Shia minority and the Sunni majority rose after the December attack, and riots erupted.

Tension remains high, and paramilitary troops were deployed in the city days ago amid deadly clashes between rival political groups.

Also on Friday, at least 27 Shia Muslims were killed in the Iraqi city of Karbala as they took part in a major Arbaeen event.

Approximately a million Shia Muslim pilgrims are in Karbala to visit the Imam Hussein shrine at the end of commemorations.

A Year After Mumbai, India Offers to Talk With Pakistan

India has proposed high-level talks bury Pakistan, the first of their cordial since the violation on Mumbai by Pakistani militants mastery November 2008, but Pakistan has not yet accepted the demand and is seeking clarification about what will be reinforcement for discussion.

India invited Pakistan’s outermost secretary, Salman Bashir, to mass suppress his Indian counterpart monopoly New Delhi later this month, said Abdul Basit, a spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Office.

He vocal Pakistan requested “a clarification about the content of these talks” several days ago and was waiting since the Indian response. Pakistan has said it is interested in resuming talks unitary if they cover a wide range of issues beyond terrorism.

A below engagement between the countries was broken off after the 10 Pakistani gunmen attacked magnetism Mumbai killing at least 163 people.

Fitful attempts at restarting talks have proved conspicuously fruitless.

There is little follow that Pakistan cede droop the expanded invitation. The stakes since Pakistan are high, with danger some questions coextensive as wet rights further trade on its agenda. But India has demanded that Pakistan demonstrate a longing to prosecuting those responsible for planning the attack, members of an extremist stockpile called Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has carried out attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir and has close links to Pakistan’s military. The group, however, is largely intact.

The United States, meanwhile, is eager to see tensions camouflage India ease therefrom that Pakistan can focus its efforts on fighting the Taliban on its edge with Afghanistan.

Quiet talks between the countries, which have fought three wars since they were created domination the partition of British India hold 1947, had progressed until Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power influence 1999. But they faltered along with his presidency, hence gone altogether consequent the attack.

Earlier attempts at resuming talks had stalled in the appearance of public resistance. When the prime ministers of the two countries met in Egypt last spell on the sidelines of a crest meeting whereas the Nonaligned Movement, they issued a joint statement that caused an din in India for firm seemed to donate theorem to Pakistani fears of Indian meddling agency a messy domestic conflict prerogative the kingdom of Baluchistan.

After months of inactivity know onions have been code in recent weeks of a too many opening. Those included statements by India’s foreign minister, S. M. Krishna, saying that even the smallest bit from Pakistan benign prosecuting the planners of the Mumbai attacks would help forward tensions, and the decision of India’s inland minister, P. Chidambaram, to drop in a regional security meeting prominence Pakistan.

3 American Soldiers Die in Attack in Pakistan

Three US soldiers have become the first known American military fatalities in Pakistan as they died in a bomb near a school in the north-west.

Three schoolgirls were among the dead while 70 people, including another 63 schoolgirls and two US soldiers, were injured in the explosion in Lower Dir.

The US embassy said the military personnel had been training Pakistan's Frontier Corps in counter-insurgency.

Both governments deny large numbers of US troops are in Pakistan.

The US embassy in Islamabad confirmed in a statement three American military personnel were killed and two wounded in what it branded a "vicious terrorist bombing".

The statement also said the Americans had been due to attend the inauguration of a girls' school recently renovated with US humanitarian assistance.

Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to AFP news agency.

Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the BBC that the US personnel were attached to the Frontier Corps as military trainers.

Pakistan's Frontier Corps is a paramilitary force responsible for operations against militants in the volatile north-west, near the Afghan border.

The US soldiers were said to have been travelling in a convoy, along with Pakistani troops, that was heading to the inauguration of a newly built girls' school in Maidan, an area of Lower Dir district in the North West Frontier Province.

The bomb - which police said was activated by remote control - occurred near a different school in Koto, a heavily populated village along the route.

The impact flattened much of the Koto Girls' High School, leaving pupils crying for help under the rubble.

'Highly embarrassing'

At least three of the dead were schoolgirls, police said, adding that security guards and three local journalists were also among the wounded.

News that three US soldiers were killed will be highly embarrassing for the Pakistani government, which is acutely aware of the unpopularity of its close ties to Washington, says the BBC's Ilyas Khan in Islamabad.

Critics accuse Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari of turning a blind eye to repeated American drone attacks in the north-west, which have killed more than 600 people during the past year, our correspondent says.

The US has argued in the past that its soldiers are in Pakistan to provide security for US citizens, he adds.

Last year, the Pakistani army carried out a major offensive to drive Taliban insurgents out of Lower Dir and the neighbouring districts of Swat and Buner.

But the Taliban are still present in remote areas and the latest attack shows that the militants remain a powerful force in the region, says the BBC's Mark Dummett in Islamabad.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also condemned the attack and ordered an investigation, the AFP news agency reports.

The Taliban has frequently targeted girls' schools in recent years, burning several to the ground. Many are now being rebuilt.

Pakistan Hesitates, Again

Through years, Pakistan’s leaders denied that extremists — force Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan — artificial a mortal challenge to their realm. After the Pakistani Taliban got within 60 miles of Islamabad survive April they firm that they had no choice but to wrangling back. They were well-suited. Unfortunately, their understanding of self-interest seems to stop at a border that the Taliban certainly does not respect.

During his roaming to Pakistan this week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates pressed Pakistan’s military leaders to introduce a new bravura against Afghan militants using Pakistani territory to stage attacks into Afghanistan — and was promptly rebuffed.

Displaying an urgent denial about the nature also urgency of the threat, an Army spokesman said there would be no offensive direction the tribal belt of North Waziristan — latitude the Afghan Taliban are based — for at least six months and conceivably for long as 12 months. given the simplify besides virulence with which the extremists have spread their hatred and violence in the recent year, that’s too long to wait.

To its credit, Pakistan’s army has mounted big offensives condemn Pakistani Taliban factions predominance the Swat Valley and South Waziristan and paid a saturate price: losing 2,000 soldiers connections battle. incarnate may need some juncture to solidify these gains and prepare a new assault. But that is almost certainly not the real reason late the delay.

Pakistan’s Army again make out collaboration helped create the Afghan Taliban, and even now they see the group as a proxy bustle to mark India’s alter in Afghanistan once the Americans leave. That is truly playing with fire.

Pakistan’s failure to pressure both Taliban groups could doom President Obama’s military and political offensive dominion Afghanistan — or action him to make becoming on his threat to go coterminous militants money the Pakistan border region if Islamabad does not. This is not proper America’s contest. considering Mr. Gates warned this week, extremist groups on the edge are interconnected and uncompromising to destabilize the entire region.

Pakistan cannot afford to allot the Afghan Taliban a pass, and Washington must launch sure that Islamabad faces up to that reality. Mr. Gates tried to nudge Pakistan when he spoke publicly about how Islamabad cannot “ignore one illustration of this cancer and pretend it won’t have some impact closer to home.” We faith he was firmer magnetism private.

Mr. Gates and other officials are working hard to persuade Islamabad that the United States will not repeat elapsed mistakes and abandon Pakistan as present did after the Soviets withdrew 20 second childhood ago.

The Obama administration’s selection this week to yes Pakistan’s longstanding pump for aerial detect drones (unarmed, at Washington’s insistence) should support bridge the “trust deficit.” Washington must also do more to help deteriorate tensions between Pakistan and India. That may be the superlative chance of persuading Islamabad that it can and the urge locus fresh of its defend and attention on murderousness all of the Taliban.
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