Orakzai Agency: 6 FC men martyred in bomb blast

As many as six Frontier Corps personnel have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in Orakzai Agency on Friday, security officials said.
The two officials said the blast hit the FC’s vehicle in the Yakh Kandao area of Orakzai.
Forces have launched a search operation in the area.Orakzai has been the focus of a Pakistani military offensive against the Taliban.

Orakzai Agency: 6 FC men killed in bomb blast

As many as six Frontier Corps personnel have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in Orakzai Agency on Friday, security officials said.
The two officials said the blast hit the FC’s vehicle in the Yakh Kandao area of Orakzai.
Forces have launched a search operation in the area.Orakzai has been the focus of a Pakistani military offensive against the Taliban.

Blast kills Afghan policemen, civilians

KABUL: A bomb blast killed four Afghan police officers and three civilians in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province on Saturday, a provincial official said.

Violence in the country is at its deadliest phase this year since the Taliban militants stepped up their insurgency campaign against the Afghan government and thousands of international forces supporting it.

Mohammad Omar, provincial governor of Kunduz, said the blast caused by explosives planted in a motorbike also wounded several people and destroyed some shops nearby.

He said the target of the blast was, however, not immediately clear.

Casualties have grown for both Afghan civilians, government troops and NATO as the insurgency spreads out of traditional Taliban strongholds in the south and east into the north and west.

A mid-year report by the United Nations has shown a 31 percent

Loud blast heard in Kabul: witness

KABUL: A loud blast was heard Sunday in central Kabul, shaking residential buildings, two days ahead of a landmark international conference, a witness said.

“A very loud explosion rocked the whole of Mackroyan,” Noorzia, a resident of the central Kabul suburb, said.

She said the blast took place at 11:50 am (7:20 GMT).

Iran says it has ”evidence” scientist abducted by CIA

TEHRAN: Iran has submitted “evidence” to the Swiss embassy that its nuclear scientist was abducted by US intelligence agents, a website of local news channel reported on Sunday.

“The evidence related to the abduction of Shahram Amiri by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) has been handed over to the Swiss embassy in Tehran” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanaparast was quoted as saying.

The Swiss embassy manages US interests in Iran since Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic ties.

“We expect that based on the US administration”s obligations… the US authorities will announce the results of their investigation regarding this Iranian national,” Mehmanaparast said.

Iranian officials have long maintained that Amiri was kidnapped by US agents from Saudi Arabia last year.

On June 29, Iranian television had screened a video of a man claiming to be Amiri and saying that he had managed to escape from the hands of US intelligence agents in Virginia.

“I could be re-arrested at any time by US agents… I am not free and I”m not allowed to contact my family. If something happens and I do not return home alive, the US government will be responsible,” he said.

“I ask Iranian officials and organisations that defend human rights to raise pressure on the US government for my release and return to my country,” the man said, adding he has not “betrayed” Iran.

A US official on Tuesday dismissed the allegations in the Iranian broadcast. Amiri disappeared in June 2009 after arriving in Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage. Iran accused US agents of abducting him with the help of Saudi intelligence services.

ABC news in the United States reported in March that Amiri had defected and was working with the CIA. US officials have rejected these allegations.

Suicide bomber in gov”t HQ in west Iraq kills two

FALLUJA: A female suicide bomber blew herself up on Sunday in the governor”s compound of Iraq”s western Anbar province, killing two people and wounding seven, as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Baghdad, police said.

A police source said the blast occurred in the reception area of the heavily fortified compound in Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital. Many of the wounded were in critical condition, he said.

The sprawling desert province was the heartland of a fierce insurgency after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and was in the grip of al Qaeda. Its main cities, Ramadi and Falluja, witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

But local Sunni tribal chiefs turned on al Qaeda in 2006 and 2007, helping U.S. forces bring relative peace to the region.

Sectarian tensions have flared since a national election in March, which has yet to result in a new government.

A Sunni-backed alliance won a slim victory in the vote but a union of the main factions is expected to take the lead in the tussle to form a coalition government.

Insurgent groups have tried to exploit the political vacuum since the election through violence.

Al Qaeda”s Iraqi affiliate claimed responsibility for brazen suicide assaults on the Iraqi central bank and the Trade Bank of Iraq last month, and police in Anbar and elsewhere have come under constant attack.

On Friday, gunmen with silenced weapons shot dead one of Anbar”s most senior Sunni clerics, Imam Abdul Aleem al-Saadi, after he answered a knock on his door.

Sunday”s bomb blast in the Anbar governorate office occurred as Biden visited U.S. troops in Baghdad for the 4th of July holiday and also planned to meet Iraqi leaders.

Low intensity blast near Bin Qasim railway station

KARACHI: A low intensity blast has occurred near Port Qasim railway station but it caused no damage to the railway tracks, police sources said here on Friday.

All the trains bound for up country have been stopped as the police defused the second bomb recovered near the railway tracks in Bin Qasim area, sources told Geo News.

SSP Bin Qasim Muhammad Farooq said the blast caused no damage to the railway tracks.

Lahore Express has been stopped at Jhampir Railway Station while Sukkur Express and Khyber Mail have been halted at Landhi and Drig Road railway stations respectively.

Govt respects decisions of courts, Gilani tells CJP

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said that its not a big task to write a letter to the Swiss authorities.
Talking to media at the inauguration ceremony of the Expo Centre in Lahore, he said, I telephoned Chief Justice of Pakistan and assured him that the PPP respects the courts as it was the part of the PPP manifesto.
To a question, he said Judiciary also suffered during the movement for restoration of democracy and it realizes its responsibilities regarding democratic system. he added.
To another query, the premier said senior federal ministers would appear before the courts in major cases in the future.
To a question about the Swiss cases, he said the government would follow the rules and the constitution in this regard. About an independent judiciary, the premier said it was the time of revolution for all institutions including parliament and media.
He said that clash among institutions is not in anybodys benefit. Answering a question about Pervez Musharrafs return, he replied that is Pervez Musharraf not involved in the killing of Akbar Bugti. The PM said that PML-N is an allied party.

Doctor killed in Quetta blast

One doctor was killed and another got injuries in an explosion in Quetta on Saturday.
Sources said the blast occurred through explosives placed in a busy market on Sarki road in the city. The injured have been shifted to a local hospital. Meanwhile, authorities fear the number of casualties will rise. Investigations into the blast are underway and the nature of the blast has not been determined as yet.

Afghan police: Suicide car bomber attacks in Kabul

KABUL: Afghan police say a suicide car bomber has attacked in the western part of the capital, Kabul.

Abdul Ghafor Sayedzada, chief of criminal investigation for the Kabul police, said Tuesday that initial reports of the blast indicate that U.S. vehicles were targeted. But the area of the explosion also is home to Afghan government buildings.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary also confirmed the blast, saying it was near the Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water.

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