Syrian army units refuse to open fire

Syrian army units have clashed with each other over following President Bashar Assad s orders to crack down on protesters in Daraa, a besieged city at the heart of the uprising, witnesses and human rights groups said.

More than 450 people have been killed across Syria about 100 in Daraa alone and hundreds detained since the popular revolt against Assad began in mid-March, according to human rights groups.

While the troops infighting in Daraa does not indicate any decisive splits in the military, it is significant because the army has always been the regime s fiercest defender.

Democracy should be tolerated, says Gilani

Politics is game of advices and criticism. Responding to questions regarding government change, the Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has advised the opposition to tolerate democracy after bearing the military rule for a long time. He also said that the opposition parties should learn to respect and tolerate democracy.

66,000 civilians killed in Iraq war: WikiLeaks

American website WikiLeaks has published 0.4 million secret documents on Iraq War. The report states that 66000 innocent people were killed during the war.
The reports have been forwarded to all the leading media groups of the world. According to WikiLeaks, the US officials ignored news of torture, sexual harassment and murders while it also did not penalize the military personnel involved in the crimes.
Report also states that civilian deaths were kept out of record in Iraq and amongst 109000 killings, 66000 were those who did not participate in the war and were innocent. Medical reports also revealed the fact that thousands of people were tortured to death in Iraq.

66,000 innocent people killed in Iraq war: WikiLeaks

American website WikiLeaks has published 0.4 million secret documents on Iraq War. The report states that 66000 innocent people were killed during the war.
The reports have been forwarded to all the leading media groups of the world. According to WikiLeaks, the US officials ignored news of torture, sexual harassment and murders while it also did not penalize the military personnel involved in the crimes.
Report also states that civilian deaths were kept out of record in Iraq and amongst 109000 killings, 66000 were those who did not participate in the war and were innocent. Medical reports also revealed the fact that thousands of people were tortured to death in Iraq.

Pakistan blocks Nato supply trucks

Pakistani has blocked oil tankers and trucks carrying Nato supplies at Khyber Agency on Thursday.
Two officials said that they were not told the reason for the order at the Torkham border post. However, it comes after threats by Pakistani officials to stop providing protection to Nato convoys if the military alliance’s choppers hit Pakistani targets again.
Earlier Thursday, Pakistani officials alleged a Nato airstrike hit a border post, killing three Pakistani troops.

14 militants killed in Orakzai

Staff Report

ORAKZAI AGENCY: One soldier was killed and another injured in an attack on security forces check post by militants, while forces killed 14 militants in a retaliatory attack, said sources on Thursday.

According to sources, militants attacked a security forces checkpost in the Tapu region of upper Orakzai Agency. As a result, one soldier was killed.

At least 14 militants were killed in a retaliatory attack by security forces.

Two militant hideouts were also washed away.

The offensive in Orakzai came on the heels of an operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan. Many militants in South Waziristan were believed to have fled to Orakzai, though top Pakistani Taliban leaders are believed to be in North Waziristan.

For months, the military pounded Orakzai with air strikes, eventually staging a ground operation as well.

14 Lt Generals will retire before Army Chief

ISLAMABAD: After three-year extension in the term of the Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani 14 three star generals of the military will retire prior to him.

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14 Lt Generals will retire before Army Chief

Norway arrests 3 al Qaeda-linked suspects over plot

OSLO: Three men were arrested on Thursday suspected of planning attacks, and of having links to al Qaeda and to people under investigation in the United States and Britain, Norwegian police said.

Two of the men were arrested in the Oslo region while a third one was arrested in Germany.

“We believe this group has had links to people abroad who can be linked to al Qaeda, and to people who are involved in investigations in other countries, among others the United States and Britain,” the Police Security Service (PST) chief Janne Kristiansen said.

Kristiansen did not give details of the plot nor say which country might have been the target of a planned attack. Norway, which has troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led mission, has never had an al Qaeda-led attack on its soil.

3 UK men convicted over airliner bomb plot

LONDON: A jury on Thursday convicted three British Muslims of conspiring to murder hundreds of people as part of a plot to blow up passenger planes over the Atlantic.

Ibrahim Savant, 29, Arafat Waheed Khan, 29, and Waheed Zaman, 26 were found guilty at London”s Woolwich Crown Court after a three-month trial. They will be sentenced Monday and face life imprisonment.

Prosecutors say the men were part of a group that planned to detonate liquid explosive bombs hidden in soft drink bottles on aircraft bound for the United States and Canada in 2006, an attack that could have killed people on the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The plot was broken up when suspects were scooped up in raids in London and the surrounding area in August 2006. The foiled attack grounded hundreds of flights and changed air travel for good, as airline authorities to put strict restrictions on the quantity of liquids passengers can carry in their luggage — limits that remain in place.

It has taken four years to bring all the accused to justice. This was the third trial of the three defendants. Two earlier juries failed to reach verdicts on charges of conspiracy to murder. They were acquitted at an earlier trial of knowing that airplanes were the plot”s target, but prosecutors said they had prepared to become suicide bombers and recorded “martyrdom” videos.

The men had argued that the videos were part of an elaborate publicity stunt.

Prosecutor Sue Hemming said the trio “were involved in a calculated and sophisticated plot to create a terrorist event of major proportions, working alongside others who were determined to bring down aircraft using homemade explosives, causing the maximum possible loss of life.”

“They were cleared in the previous trial of being aware of the ultimate targets of the plot, but we say that they were committed to the principle and practice of violent jihad to the point of targeting innocent people in an attempt to further their cause.”

Three other men, described as the group”s ringleaders, are serving long sentences for the plot.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the men had been convicted of “one of the most significant terrorist plots the UK has ever seen.”

Bomb kills NATO soldier in Afghanistan

KABUL: A Taliban-style bomb has killed another NATO soldier in Afghanistan, the military NATO said Friday.

The soldier, whose identity was not revealed, died after an attack with an improvised explosive device, or IED, in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, NATO”s International Security Assistance Force said.

The death brings to 342 the total number of foreign troops to die in Afghanistan so far this year, according to a tally. The total last year was 520.

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