US special forces set up office at FC headquarters

The American special forces set up their office at the Frontier Corps headquarters in Peshawar and also wanted to set up offices in GHQ and Balochistan, claims a cable issued by WikiLeaks.

In her cable to the State Department in May 2009, former US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson wrote that the United States had created intelligence fusion cells on the request of Pakistan at the Frontier Corps headquarters where the US special forces were working with both Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps.

In April 2009, Anne Patterson wrote that the US cooperated with Pakistan military which had then launched an operation against insurgents in Lower Dir.

The US ambassador wrote that despite the blue-prints of a joint strategy, the Pakistan Army suspended a joint operation with US on April 29, 2009.

In October 2009, the ambassador wrote that Pakistan had been rejecting the deployment of the US troops in Pakistan, but now it had change its policy and the move would support US operations against terrorists.

One dead as hundreds stage protest in Karachi

KARACHI: One person died and another suffered injuries from fires shot from an unknown source during a protest in Karachi on Wednesday.

The incident took place on Manghopir Road where hundreds of people held a demonstration against the arrest of their relatives.

In a joint operation on Tuesday, police and rangers apprehended over 400 suspected men and women from Manghopir.

Protesters blocked Manghopir Road and called for the immediate release of detainees.

Heavy contingents of police and rangers were called to bring the situation under control. Trend Pk

Army starts anti-militant operation in Mardan

Staff Report

MARDAN: Security forces on Monday launched a fresh operation in different parts of Mardan against suspected militants.

According to sources, army and police are conducting a joint operation in Kandao and Galibagh areas in a bid to arrest militants believed to have been hiding there.

So far, no arrests have been made by the forces. SAMAA

Karachi Shrine Blast: Two suspects apprehended

Two suspects, involved in plotting the blasts at Abdullah Shah Ghazis shrine, have been apprehended in a joint operation conducted by secret agencies in Orangi Town, Karachi. While the man, Naseeb Ullah, who was being suspected to have blown himself in the suicide attack inside the Shrine, has arrived home alive.
Agencies have started probing the attacks on the basis of the evidences collected from the blast spot. While after getting some secret information, they conducted an operation in Orangi Town and Momin-abad and succeeded to arrest two suspects, who were then transferred to an unknown place.
Sources said that suspects, Asad Ullah and Kamran belong to a banned religious outfit.
The man, Naseeb Ullah, who was mistakenly being identified as suicide attacker by the investigative agencies and also the Federal Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, has arrived home alive. Admitting the mistake, secret agencies have released his brother and father, who were first arrested to be questioned about their son.

Police, allies kill 18 insurgents in S Afghanistan

KABUL: The Afghan government said 18 insurgent fighters have been killed in a joint operation between Afghan and international forces in southern Helmand region.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that six militants were also arrested during the operation a day earlier led by Afghan police, soldiers and intelligence agents backed by NATO forces in Helmand”s Sangin district.

Separately, deputy provincial police chief Fazel Ahmad Sherzad said an Afghan man was killed and a woman was wounded after insurgents attacked a house Monday in the Shah Wali Kot district of neighboring Kandahar province.

Thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces are ramping up pressure on Kandahar, the birthplace of the former Taliban regime.

Top al-Qaida in Iraq leader killed northern Iraq

BAGHDAD: A senior Iraqi military spokesman said ahigh-ranking al-Qaida in Iraq leader has been killed in northern Iraq in a joint operation with the U.S.

The statement comes a day after U.S. and Iraqi officials announced the killing of two top al-Qaida linked leaders, Abu Omaral-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri, in what was described as a major blow to the organization.

Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said Tuesday that troops acting on intelligence killed Ahmed al-Obeidi in an early morning operation in the northern province of Ninevah.

Al-Moussawi added that the slain insurgent, also dubbed Abu Suhaib, was in charge of al-Qaida in Iraq”s operations in the provinces of Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Ninevah.

31 Afghans Arrested in Kashmore

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31 Afghans Arrested in Kashmore was first posted on October 25, 2009 at 12:52 pm.

Its Hamper Us Interests To Distancing From Nawaz: Richard Holbrook

PAKISTAN, ISLAMABAD: US Special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Ambassador Richard Holbrooke has said that widening the distance from Nawaz Sharif will hamper the interests of US as he is the popular leader in Pakistan and added that it is not the job of United States to tell Pakistan to launch operation in Waziristan as it is up to the Pakistani leadership to decide when and what it wants to do about it.

Talking to reporters on board the plane, before landing at Islamabad Airport, Holbrooke said his meetings with Pakistani leadership would be focused on how to overcome the power shortage in the country.

Holbrooke said that a task force led by Marry Bethman had been set up to find ways to help resolve the issue of electricity shortage in Pakistan…”people of Pakistan are suffering because of power loadshedding and we got to help them,” he added.

He said Pakistan was neglected as compared to Afghanistan after 9/11 incident by the international community and whatever needed was not done in the power sector in Pakistan. “And now, since we have a little breathing space as far as security situation is concerned, it is time for us to focus on other important issues like power crisis,” he added.

“I cannot tell whether the Taliban were destroyed or dispersed as a result of this operation until I go myself over there and talk to the people on ground but one thing was quite obvious that security forces regained Swat and Buner from Taliban which itself was very significant,” he added.

He said that the political situation here had improved significantly, as on March 15 the PML-N was at odds with the government when it held long march. He that Nawaz Sharif had come out with strong statements against Taliban. “Nawaz Sharif is a popular leader and his party is ruling the largest province of Punjab that’s why I believe that distancing from Nawaz will not be in the interest of the US.”

NATO Killed 38 Taliban In Clash

AFGHANISTAN, KANDAHAR: Afghan army special forces backed by US-led international troops killed up to 38 Taliban militants in separate operations, they said on Saturday.

In a surprise attack on Friday night units from the two forces working together dropped from helicopters into Charchino district, in central Uruzgan province, for a battle that lasted several hours, the Afghan army said.

“Twenty-nine enemies were killed. The bodies are still lying in the battle field,” southern Afghanistan military corp commander general Shair Mohammad Zazai told AFP.

He said the troops confiscated 96 sacks of aluminium nitrate explosive and a large amount of opium.

Separately, Taliban militants ambushed an Afghan army patrol on Friday in Barmal, a district of Paktika, the defence ministry said in a statement.

“A large number of enemies were killed but they left behind two of their dead. Four Afghan soldiers were also wounded,” the statement said.

In neighbouring Khost province, seven militants were killed in a joint operation by Afghan army and NATO forces and 17 militants were wounded, the ministry said.

Afghanistan has experienced a series of fresh attacks across the country in the days before the presidential vote on August 20, only the country’s second.

A suicide blast in Kabul early Saturday killed seven civilians and wounded more than 90 others.