Abdulrauf Rigi arrested by Pakistani officials

Iranian TV claims that Pakistan has arrested Abdulrauf Rigi, a senior member of the banned terrorist group Jundallah.

The officials confirmed on Thursday that the Jundallah member has been arrested by Pakistani security forces. On 15th December 2010, a terrorist attack took place at the Imam Hussein Mosque in Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchestan Province where people were commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein. At least 38 mourners were killed and more than 89 others, including women and children, were injured. Iran says the perpetrators behind the Chabahar terrorist attack were trained and equipped by foreign elements beyond the country’s eastern borders in Pakistan. Jundullah has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pakistan-based group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran. Its leader Abdulmaalik Rigi was arrested by Iranian intelligence forces in February 2010 and executed in June for 79 counts of crime, including armed robbery, bombing operations and armed attacks on police and civilians. While on 20th December 2010, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari to arrest known terrorists and extradite them to Iran.

Hungu: Mortar attack kills 6, injures 8

A mortar attack killed at least six people, including women and children, in northwest Pakistan on Friday as Ashura processions were on their way to main imambargah.

According to police, mortars were fired from different areas into houses in Malakwal, Karmawal, Qazi Talaab and Spain Khwarway. Due to which six people were killed and 8 got injuries.

Mortars were fired from Orakzai and hit two houses in Hangu. Six people were killed and eight injured, Gul Jamal, a local police official, told.

The injured were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Hungu. Security forces bombed hideouts of militants.

Ghotki: 5 of family killed in home attack

Staff Report

GHOTKI: Five family members, including women and children, were gunned down inside their house in Ghotki over an old enmity, police said Friday.

The deadly attack took place in the limit of Khanpur Mehr Police Station in Maghan Kedari village of Ghotki.

According to police, armed members of Gabol clan stormed a house of their rival Mehr clan and opened indiscriminate fire, killing at least five people, including three women and a minor girl.

Police said that attack was carried out to avenge the murder of notorious robber Nazir Gabol, who was allegedly killed by members of the Mehr clan some time ago. Trend Pk

Ghotki: 5 of family killed in home attack

Staff Report

GHOTKI: Five family members, including women and children, were gunned down inside their house in Ghotki over an old enmity, police said Friday.

The deadly attack took place in the limit of Khanpur Mehr Police Station in Maghan Kedari village of Ghotki.

According to police, armed members of Gabol clan stormed a house of their rival Mehr clan and opened indiscriminate fire, killing at least five people, including three women and a minor girl.

Police said that attack was carried out to avenge the murder of notorious robber Nazir Gabol, who was allegedly killed by members of the Mehr clan some time ago. Trend Pk

Protest against expected Lyari operation

Staff Report

KARACHI: Thousands of people came out on the roads of Lyari chanting slogans against the expected operation in the area Wednesday.

Police and rangers have been deployed in various areas in Lyari, while rangers helicopters also took aerial views in the area in the evening.

Feeling the expected operation against criminals in the area, thousands people, including women and children, came from different areas of Lyari and held a demonstration against police and rangers.

While talking to SAMAA, the locals of Lyari said that their area is one of the peaceful areas of the city. They demanded that operation should be conducted in other areas of the city as well.

They also said that they are ready for a voluntary search operation in the area against criminals. SAMAA

Lahore triple blasts leave 29 dead, over 200 injured

LAHORE: Twenty-nine people were killed and over 200 others wounded, some seriously, in three blasts that ripped through a procession on the occasion of Yaum-e-Ali in Lahore on Wednesday.

The blasts left 29 people dead while over 200 wounded, including women and children were shifted to hospitals. Some of them are said to be in serious condition.

A police constable was also killed in the blasts, CCPO Lahore said.

A banned organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Almi claimed responsibility of the deadly blasts.

The first blast that occurred in the middle of the procession at Karbala Gaame Shah was followed within minutes by two high intensity suicide blasts at Bhaati Chowk, police sources confirmed.

Commissioner Lahore said that the second and third blasts were suicidal and that a head of one of the suicide bombers has been recovered.

Relief and rescue efforts kick started after blasts and dozens of injured, including women and children were shifted to different medical facilities including Meo Hospital.

Later, the participants of the procession and enraged people pelted police vehicles with stones and damaged public property. A TV footage showed a motor cycle and furniture burning with rising flames.

President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Pakistan Muslim League-N Chief Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the blasts and ordered the concerned authorities to carry out investigation.

The Prime Minister said those playing with lives of innocent people will not be able to escape from the grips of law.

The President, PM and Nawaz Sharif in their separate statements termed the blasts as cowardly acts and expressed sympathies with the bereaved families.

The President and Prime Minister ordered inquiry into the incident and provision all necessary medical facilities to the injured.

Gastro death toll in Kashmore climbs to 65

Staff Report

KASHMORE: Three more persons, including two children, have died of gastroenteritis in District Kashmore, Sindh. In the last 26 days, 65 flood affected people, including women and children, lost their lives in this gastroenteritis afflicted district, SAMAA reported on Wednesday.

The recent floods have caused major problems for people. They are troubled with water filled towns and cities and are moving places with hopes to get refuge in some safe place.

Millions of flood affected people are deprived of basic facilities; they are compelled to live under open skies in the absence of proper shelters.

The lack of proper food and hygiene, especially clean drinking water, have multiplied their miseries; people of all ages, especially children in vast majority are under constant threat of being afflicted by various

NDMC meeting today

ISLAMABAD: The National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC) is set to hold a crucial meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, which besides reviewing the overall situation also consider the proposal of setting up of an authority or body to transparently collect funds for the flood affected people.

The meeting will be presided over by the prime minister and attended by all the chief ministers, prime minister of Azad Kashmir, chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, Chairman of NDMA and heads of organisations concerned.

He said close coordination and better understanding among the federal and provincial governments would greatly facilitate in streamlining the relief and rehabilitation efforts. The Prime Minister said a joint strategy was the need of the hour to effectively confront the challenges of relief and rehabilitation.

The Prime Minister said the government was

Flood swept away Garhi Khero in Jacobabad

Staff Report

JACOBABAD: As a result of four breaches appeared in Keerthar Canal, the Garhi Kheru tehsil located in Jacobabad has been inundated that left thousand people stranded, said sources Thursday.

The katcha area has submerged from the flood water coming from Ghauspur.

Over 3,000 people has stranded after the Garhi Khero district washed away as a result of four breaches in Keerthar Canal.

With the approach of a second ‘peak flood’, the district of Jacobabad is facing the worst crisis in its history and a number of villages and settlements have been inundated.

At least 22 people, including women and children, have been swept away by raging waters in Moula Dad, Mehmal, Karim Bux and other areas.

According to local sources, more than 300,000 people have been affected in areas around Jacobabad. Villagers have lost their property,

Chinese ‘gold’ brings Egyptians a taste of little luxury

In Egypt, Chinese gold– an affordable imitation of the precious metal– has swamped the jewellery market, granting the poor a little taste of luxury.
As in many other countries, the Egyptian market has been flooded with Chinese goods — everything from electronics to plastic cigarette lighters have been shouldering locally made goods out of the way.
And in a country where 40 percent of the 80 million population lives on less than two dollars a day, the so-called Chinese gold has been widely welcomed, particularly by young couples who struggle to afford the traditional marriage dowry.
The current price of one gram of 24 carat gold in Egypt stands at 218 Egyptian pounds (38 dollars), while the Chinese version — a mixture of aluminium, iron and other metals — only costs around 20 to 30 Egyptian pounds (four to five dollars) per gram.
Just a short walk from the Khan al-Khalili tourist bazaar is Haret al-Yahud, the old Jewish quarter where gold workshops churned out designs from simple wedding bands to elaborate necklaces. But many of the jewellers there have switched to selling Chinese gold to improve business.
For young couples struggling to start a new life together, the arrival of Chinese gold has removed at least one obstacle to the costly traditions that surround marriage, including the dowry or shabka.

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