| Islamic World News | |
| 24 May 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com |
| Wikileaks: Saudi Arabia, UAE funded extremist networks in Pakistan | ||
Roadside bomb kills 10, wounds 28 in Afghanistan US judge denies imams bail in Pakistani case Terrorists hold Pak Navy base for 18 hrs, bomb 2 spy planes Mullah Omar: Dead or alive? Volatile situation in Pak has India worried US-India talks to focus on choking terrorists' lifeline: Napolitano Pakistan denies ISI role in Mumbai attack NO peace in region until resolution of Kashmir issue: Pak PM Gunbattle kills six after Yemen leader refuses to go Four NATO soldiers killed in Afghan bombing US calls for Gaddafi to leave Libya Deadly NATO raid rocks Tripoli Nato bombs Tripoli, US says time against Gaddafi Turkey meets Libyan rebels, tells Qaddafi to quit West to use attack helicopters in Libya Even without books, Urdu medium students did well Pakistani militant group, ISI coordinated: Headley US, Britain tell Assad: Stop the killings US urges Saleh to step down Study ties new al-Qaeda chief to murder of Pearl British PM rehearsing for ‘Obama-cue’ Sudan’s flashpoint town burned and looted, UN says Mullah Omar left Pakistani hideout: Afghan intelligence Pak under tremendous pressure and threat from terrorists: US Implicating ISI in terror, Headley says hatred of India after 1971 war drove him to LeT Naval base attack: Big blow to Pakistan's snooping capabilities Suicide bombing in Kazakhstan, casualties reported Pak wrests naval base after 17-hr Taliban siege US deports Pak man probed for links to Times Square bombing Brazen Mehran attack hints at inside job: Experts France to supply helicopters to NATO's Libya campaign Pak's ISI planned and funded 26/11, sings Headley Bill for Kasab's upkeep Rs 10 crore, Maharashtra govt says no way Pak inquiry into base attack Don't leave Afghanistan, India told U.S. You will not be removed, Zardari assured Dogar US condemns attack on Pak naval base Britain backs Pakistan after base attack Call for Pak, India meeting in Kashmir: A call for Hurriyat Conference Gunbattle in Yemen as transition deal collapses Palestinian president defends new unity government with Hamas Iran to hit back at West with sanctions of its own Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau Photo: Charities from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates financed a network in Pakistan. | ||
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Wikileaks: Saudi Arabia, UAE funded extremist networks in Pakistan
May 24, 2011
WikiLeaks said $100 million a year was making its way from those Gulf Arab states to a recruitment network in Punjab.
Charities from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates financed a network in Pakistan that recruited children as young as eight to wage “holy war”, a local newspaper reported on Sunday, citing Wikileaks.
A US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks said financial support estimated at $100 million a year was making its way from those Gulf Arab states to an extremist recruitment network in Pakistan’s Punjab province, Dawn newspaper reported.
Asked to respond to the report, Saudi foreign ministry spokesman Osama Nugali said: “Saudi Arabia issued a statement from day one that we are not going to comment on any WikiLeaks reports because Saudi Arabia is not responsible for these reports and we are not sure about their authenticity.”
The November 2008 dispatch by Bryan Hunt, the then principal officer at the US consulate in Lahore, was based on discussions with local government and non-governmental sources during trips to Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province.
It said those sources claimed that financial aid from Saudi and United Arab Emirates was coming from “missionary” and”Islamic charitable” organisations ostensibly with the direct support of those countries’ governments.
Saudi Arabia, the United States and Pakistan heavily supported the Afghan mujahideen against Soviet occupation troops in the 1980s. Militancy subsequently mushroomed in the region and militants moved to Pakistan’s northwest tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, seen as a global hub for militants.
Since then there has been a growing nexus between militant groups there and in Punjab. In recent years militants have been carrying out suicide bombings seemingly at will in Pakistan, despite military offensives against their strongholds.
Children sent to training camps
But militancy is deeply rooted in Pakistan. In order to eradicate it, analysts say, the government must improve economic conditions to prevent militants from recruiting young men disillusioned with the state.
The network in Punjab reportedly exploited worsening poverty to indoctrinate children and ultimately send them to training camps, said the cable.
Saudi Arabia is seen as funding some of Pakistan’s hardline religious seminaries, or madrassas, which churn out young men eager for “holy war”, posing a threat to the stability of the region.
“At these madrassas, children are denied contact with the outside world and taught sectarian extremism, hatred for non-Muslims, and anti-Western/anti-Pakistan government philosophy,” said the cable.
It described how “families with multiple children” and”severe financial difficulties” were being exploited and recruited, Dawn reported.
“The path following recruitment depends upon the age of the child involved. Younger children (between 8 and 12) seem to be favoured,” said the cable.
Teachers in seminaries would assess the inclination of children “to engage in violence and acceptance of jihadi culture”.
“The initial success of establishing madrassas and mosques in these areas led to subsequent annual “donations” to these same clerics, originating in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” the cable stated.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/173744/wikileaks-saudi-arabia-uae-funded-extremist-networks-in-pakistan/
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US drone strike kills 7 suspected militants in Pak
May 24, 2011
A US drone targeted a vehicle in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region on Monday, killing seven suspected militants.
The attack occurred near Mir Ali, 30 km from Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency, which is described by US officials as a safe haven for Taliban and Al Qaeda elements who carry out strikes across the border in Afghanistan.
The unmanned spy plane fired two missiles that destroyed the vehicle.
The identity of the dead could not immediately be ascertained.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/340651/US-drone-strike-kills-7-suspected-militants-in-Pak.html
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Roadside bomb kills 10, wounds 28 in Afghanistan
May 24, 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan doctor says a roadside bombing has killed 10 workers and wounded 28 on their way to work in southern Afghanistan.
Dr. Qayoum Pakhla, the director of Kandahar Hospital, has told The Associated Press that the attack happened on Tuesday morning in Kandahar province.
The workers were laborers riding in a truck on their way to work, which involves clearing streams and rivers in the southern province.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Insurgents in Afghanistan have recently began their spring offensive.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/May/international_May1068.xml§ion=international
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Terrorists hold Pak Navy base for 18 hrs, bomb 2 spy planes
May 24, 2011
ADIL JAWAD
Karachi :Pakistani commandos regained control of the Mehran Naval Station here this afternoon from a team of Taliban militants who attacked, then occupied the high-security facility for 18 hours — an exceptionally daring act of insurgent violence that dealt a humiliating blow to the military.
The attackers — thought to number around six — destroyed at least two US-supplied P-3C Orion surveillance planes and killed 10 security officers, officials said. At least four of the attackers were killed, and two others may have escaped, said Pakistan Navy chief Nauman Bashir.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault in the city of Karachi. The militants said it was revenge for the May 2 US raid that killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, and the insurgents were under orders to fight until death. “They do not want to come out alive, they have gone there to embrace martyrdom,” said spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/794808/
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Mullah Omar: Dead or alive?
May 24, 2011
Omer Farooq Khan
KABUL/ISLAMABAD: An Afghan television channel on Monday said Taliban leader Mullah Omar was killed in Pakistan, a claim promptly denied by the Taliban.
"Mullah Omar was killed on way from Quetta to North Waziristan," said Xinhua citing Afghanistan's TOLO television news. There were no details on how the one-eyed Taliban chieftain was killed and by whom.
A Pakistani security official confirmed the alleged killing, saying: "It's correct that Mullah Omar has been killed." The Mullah was Afghanistan's de facto head of state from 1996 to late 2001. Soon after the news broke, the Pakistani Taliban said, "Tehreek-e-Taliban strongly denies that Mullah Omar was killed as claimed by the Afghan intelligence agency and as a section of the media has reported."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Mullah-Omar-Dead-or-alive/articleshow/8542422.cms
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Volatile situation in Pak has India worried
May 24, 2011
Pakistan’s fast deteriorating security situation has set off strong concerns in India over the danger posed by Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal falling into wrong hands.
The “real risk” is internal and “who guards the guardian”, official sources said in response to a question on the safety of its nuclear weapons and the string of terror attacks in Pakistan including the latest at its Mehran naval base in Karachi.
Though the threat is not from such “mass casualty attacks”, there is a general sense of concern as Pakistan “loses internal coherence”, the sources said.
Another source of worry for India is Pakistan going in for increasing number of weapons, they said.
While India does not foresee a nuclear attack in view of its credible nuclear deterrence, in the event anyone uses nuclear weapons, there will be “clearcut massive retaliation”, the sources said.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/340654/Volatile-situation-in-Pak-has-India-worried.html
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US judge denies imams bail in Pakistani case
May 24, 2011
MIAMI: A US judge on Monday denied bail for a 76-year-old Florida imam and his son accused of sending $50,000 to support the Pakistani Taleban.
Pakistan-born Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, the head of one of Miami’s leading mosques, and his son, Izhar Khan, who is also an imam at another south Florida mosque, were arrested on May 14.
The two men were among six people, including three other family members of Hafiz Khan, indicted on charges that they conspired to provide money and support for the Pakistani Taleban, which the United States considers a terrorist organization.
The Khans, both US citizens, appeared in a federal court on Monday for a hearing attended by several dozen supporters from their mosques.
“We understood coming in that this would be an uphill battle to get bail,” said Khurrum Wahid, a lawyer for Hafiz Khan. “It is a terrorism charge and it had certain legal challenges obviously and certain public relations challenges.”
Another of Khan’s sons is also under arrest in Los Angeles.
Prosecutors said the men’s arrests capped a three-year investigation into suspicious financial transactions and were based on recorded conversations and a trail of money moving from US bank accounts to Pakistan.
The indictment charges the six people with creating a network that transferred money to supporters and fighters of the Pakistani Taleban, including funds to buy arms.
“We haven’t heard any of these phone calls ourselves,” Wahid said. “We haven’t seen these wire transfers. But I’m confident once we do, we’re going to have a great opportunity to show the public that this information is being misinterpreted by our government.”
Three of the defendants are in Pakistan.
Khan has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which came amid strained relations between the United States and Pakistan following the US raid this month that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin laden this month in a compound not far from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
Prosecutors allege Khan and the others also supported the Pakistani Taleban through a madrassa, or Islamic school, in Swat, Pakistan, which they say was used to house militants.
If convicted, Khan and the others face up to 15 years in prison for each count of the indictment.
http://arabnews.com/world/article425203.ece
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Even without books, Urdu medium students did well
May 24, 2011
Farheen Naseem, is not your conventional school topper for the Class 12 boards. This 17-year-old daughter of a daily wager at a tea stall near Jama Masjid did not even have books for political science and sociology in Urdu language. Her mother does tailoring jobs to supplement her father’s income to
support the family that lives in a Matia Mahal by-lane. “I had at least read the political science book borrowing it from my teachers or fellow girls … but not once did I get to touch the social science book,” said Naseem.
She studies at the Urdu medium Rajkeeya Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya Number 2, Jama Masjid.
Surmounting various odds, the teenager secured overall 84% with 94 in political science. In fact, she secured more than 65% marks in all subjects.
Her classmate Umra Mohammed Fazil, too, faced odds more than what an average 16-year-old does. Her father became paraplegic after he was injured in wall collapse and her mother works as a domestic aid.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Even-without-books-Urdu-medium-students-did-well/Article1-701149.aspx
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US-India talks to focus on choking terrorists' lifeline: Napolitano
May 24, 2011
Washington : Keen to choke off the life line of terror groups, the US will open a dialogue with India for evolving more effective steps for cyber security and monitor illicit financial transactions, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said on Monday.
On the eve of her first-ever official visit to India, Napolitano said illegal smuggling of cash, financial fraud, counterfeiting, illicit movement of money are some of the major items on the agenda as it pertained to terrorism. "...to choke off the life line of some of these terrorist organizations... to open a dialogue that includes cyber security which is necessary to protect the networks that are critical infrastructure," she said.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/794574/
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Pakistan denies ISI role in Mumbai attack
May 24, 2011
Pakistan denied the charge of a key plotter of the Mumbai terror attack who said that Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provided support to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for carrying out the 2008 attack. "This is a completely incorrect statement from him," a spokesman for the Pakistani
Embassy in Washington said of Pakistani American David Coleman Headley's testimony before a Chicago Federal court on Monday at the trial of his one time friend, Pakistan-born Canadian Tahawwur Rana.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/americas/Pakistan-denies-ISI-role-in-Mumbai-attack/Article1-701261.aspx
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NO peace in region until resolution of Kashmir issue: Pak PM
May 24, 2011
MUZAFFARABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Monday that regional peace cannot be guaranteed until the resolution of Kashmir issue, urging the world’s peace loving nations to come forward to resolve the issue that has jeopardised the peace efforts in the region.
“Unless this core issue is resolved, the dream of peace and harmony in the region cannot come true,” said the prime minister after inaugurating a two-day national conference on Kashmir, organised by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir University.
The premier highlighted the need for acknowledging Kashmiris’ rights to self-determination in accordance with the United Nations resolutions. He said that no significant development could take place in South Asia unless the resolution of this core issue.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\05\24\story_24-5-2011_pg7_1
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Gunbattle kills six after Yemen leader refuses to go
May 24, 2011
SANAA: Six people died in clashes in Sanaa between police and backers of a powerful opposition tribal chief on Monday, tribal sources and state media said, as tensions rose after Yemen's president refused to step down.
The US state department, meanwhile, urged President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a Gulf-based initiative for him to leave power in order to "break this deadlock."
The gunbattle came a day after Saleh refused to ink the accord brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) under which he would cede power within 30 days in exchange for immunity from prosecution for himself and his aides.
Five supporters of Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar were killed and 35 others wounded during clashes with police, the sheikh's office said in a statement, updating an earlier toll from medical officials.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Gunbattle-kills-six-after-Yemen-leader-refuses-to-go/articleshow/8542530.cms
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Four NATO soldiers killed in Afghan bombing
May 24, 2011
KABUL/JALALABAD: A roadside bomb attack killed four NATO soldiers near Kabul, while a suicide bomber struck a crowded bazaar near Jalalabad on Monday, killing four civilians and wounding another 14 in a remote town in the east of the country.
In the first incident, a roadside bomb went off and killed four foreign soldiers in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.
“Four ISAF service members died following an improvised explosive device attack in eastern Afghanistan today,” ISAF said. “It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities.”
ISAF did not give further details of who was involved, what exactly happened or where it occurred, in line with its policy.
A total of 184 international troops have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year, according to a tally kept by the independent website icasualties.org. That compares with a tally of 711 for last year.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\05\24\story_24-5-2011_pg7_6
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US calls for Gaddafi to leave Libya
May 24, 2011
The United States on Monday called on Muammar Gaddafi to leave Libya as Washington’s most senior envoy to date held talks in the rebel capital in another boost to forces fighting to oust the strongman.
Washington’s call came a day after the European Union opened an office in the rebel bastion of Benghazi to show its ‘long term’ support to the rebels who took their diplomatic offensive to NATO’s sole Muslim member Turkey.
‘The United States remains committed to protecting Libyan civilians and believes that Gaddafi must leave power and Libya,’ said a statement released by the US representative’s office to the rebels’ National Transitional Council.
Full report at:
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/international/19801.html
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Deadly NATO raid rocks Tripoli
May 24, 2011
Tripoli : Powerful explosions from a deadly NATO raid shook the Libyan capital Tripoli early today, killing at least three people and wounding another 150, a government spokesman said.
Mussa Ibrahim told reporters that NATO had carried out "between 12 and 18 raids on a barracks of the people's guard," volunteer units who back up the army, and that most of the victims were civilians living nearby.
At around 1 am local time five powerful blasts were heard in the sector around embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya residence, preceded by a whistling noise and the formation of red balls in the sky, a witness said.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/794863/
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Nato bombs Tripoli, US says time against Gaddafi
May 24, 2011
Nato warplanes hammered Tripoli on Tuesday with some of their heaviest air strikes yet after the United States said Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi would "inevitably" be forced from power. At least 12 huge explosions rocked the capital in the early hours. Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said three
people were killed and 150 wounded.
He said that the strikes had targeted a compound of the Popular Guards, a tribally-based military detachment. But he said the compound had been emptied of people and "useful material" in anticipation of an attack, and the casualties were people living in the vicinity.
"This is another night of bombing and killing by Nato," Ibrahim told reporters.
Led by France, Britain and the United States, Nato warplanes have been bombing Libya for more than two months since the United Nations authorised "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces in the country's civil war.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Nato-bombs-Tripoli-US-says-time-against-Gaddafi/H1-Article1-701254.aspx
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Turkey meets Libyan rebels, tells Qaddafi to quit
May 24, 2011
ANKARA: Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi should quit in order to allow a peaceful transition of power, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday, standing alongside the head of Libya’s revolutionary movement.
A major Muslim partner in NATO, Turkey earlier this month proposed a timetable for a cease-fire that could allow a political transition to take place.
“During this transition process a cease-fire should be established and Qaddafi should leave the leadership,” Davutoglu told a joint news conference with Mustafa Abdul Jaleel, head of the Libyan national transitional council.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article424829.ece
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West to use attack helicopters in Libya
May 24, 2011
PARIS/MISRATA, Libya: France and other members of a NATO-led coalition will use attack helicopters in Libya, French officials said on Monday, a step meant to hit Muammar Qaddafi’s forces more accurately from the air.
Continued shelling of the rebel-held western outpost of Misrata illustrated the scale of the problem facing rebel forces and NATO. Rebels said Qaddafi forces were trying to advance into the long-besieged city under cover of rocket and mortar shells.
Hospital officials said two people were killed and several wounded in Monday’s fighting in Misrata. Later in the day heavy explosions outside the city were heard, lasting about an hour.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article424984.ece
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Pakistani militant group, ISI coordinated: Headley
May 24, 2011
CHICAGO: The federal government’s key witness in the trial of a Chicago businessman accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks testified Monday that he first started training more than a decade ago with a Pakistani militant group that received assistance from the country’s main intelligence agency.
The trial of businessman Tahawwur Rana is being closely watched worldwide for what testimony might reveal about suspected links between the Pakistani militant group blamed in the rampage on India’s largest city and Pakistan’s main intelligence agency, which has come under increased scrutiny since Osama Bin Laden was killed by US forces on May 2 outside Islamabad.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article425204.ece
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US, Britain tell Assad: Stop the killings
May 24, 2011
LONDON — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday the United States and Britain urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop the killings and beatings of anti-regime protesters.
Speaking at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in London, Clinton said they urged Assad to “stop the killings and beatings and arrests”.
Both countries also called for the Syrian regime to “release political prisoners and detainees and respond to the demands that are upon you for a process of credible and inclusive democratic change”.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/May/middleeast_May657.xml§ion=middleeast
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US urges Saleh to step down
May 24, 2011
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is accusing Yemen's president of turning his back on his commitments after he rejected a deal to step down.
Clinton urged Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday to sign the US-backed agreement in order to prevent further chaos that has consumed Yemen for the past three months.
"We urge him to immediately follow through on his repeated commitments to peacefully and orderly transfer power and ensure the legitimate will of the Yemeni people is addressed. The time for action is now," Clinton said in a statement.
Despite intense diplomatic pressure from Yemen's Gulf Arab neighbours and Western mediators, Saleh rejected the deal that would have given him immunity from prosecution.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=187033
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Study ties new al-Qaeda chief to murder of Pearl
May 24, 2011
Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian militant recently appointed interim leader of al-Qaeda operations, has been linked to the killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, US investigators said in a report.
A Wall Street Journal reporter, Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan’s biggest city of Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story on Islamist militants, and was later beheaded.
The findings by investigators of the Pearl Project revealed al-Adel had discussed Pearl’s abduction with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, also known as KSM, the accused mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Full report at:
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/international/19799.html
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British PM rehearsing for ‘Obama-cue’
May 24, 2011
The prime minister, David Cameron, revealed Monday that he and his family had been rehearsing for a barbecue that he will throw with the US president, Barack Obama, during his visit to Britain this week.
Obama began his week-long European tour in Ireland on Monday and moves to Britain for a three-day state visit from Tuesday, staying as a guest of Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
Among the pomp and splendour of the visit and talks on heavyweight issues such as Libya and Afghanistan, the leaders will also don aprons to help cook hamburgers and sausages in the garden of Cameron’s Downing Street residence.
Full report at:
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/international/19796.html
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Sudan’s flashpoint town burned and looted, UN says
May 24, 2011
JUBA, Sudan: Armed men burned and looted the flashpoint town of Abyei on Monday after days of violence involving northern and southern troops in the disputed region. Southern Sudan’s military said it would defend its territory, while an Arab herdsman said his tribe is in Abyei to stay, an indication Sudan’s peace could crumble before the south’s July independence.
Violence flared late last week in Abyei, a no man’s land between north and south Sudan. Southern Sudan voted in January to secede from the south, and the region becomes an independent country on July 9. But violence in Abyei is overshadowing the march toward independence.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article424731.ece
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Pak under tremendous pressure and threat from terrorists: US
May 24, 2011
WASHINGTON: Pakistan is under tremendous pressure and threat from extremist elements in the country which is reflected in the series of terrorist attacks including the latest one on the nation's naval facilities, a state department official said.
"It just illustrates that Pakistan is under enormous pressure and threat from these kinds of groups and they suffer considerably from this kind of violent extremism," state department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Tuesday.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pak-under-tremendous-pressure-and-threat-from-terrorists-US/articleshow/8547593.cms
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Implicating ISI in terror, Headley says hatred of India after 1971 war drove him to LeT
May 24, 2011
CHICAGO/WASHINGTON: Hatred of India arising from Pakistan's defeat in the 1971 war drove him to the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani expatriate who involved in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack told a Chicago court on Monday while implicating Pakistan's spy agency ISI in nurturing terrorism.
Headley, who took the stand as a prosecution witness on the opening day of the trial of his once close buddy Tahawwur Hussain Rana, told the court that he disliked Indians for "dismembering" Pakistan and was haunted by memories of his junior school being bombed. He and Rana shared room at a military boarding school where he said India and Indians were frequently discussed. He also mentioned that in the early speeches about Jihad, he heard it mentioned that, "one second conducting Jihad was equal to one hundred years of praying."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Implicating-ISI-in-terror-Headley-says-hatred-of-India-after-1971-war-drove-him-to-LeT/articleshow/8541662.cms
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Naval base attack: Big blow to Pakistan's snooping capabilities
May 24, 2011
Rajat Pandit,
NEW DELHI: Pakistan has lost almost half of its sophisticated long-range maritime snooping and strike capabilities in just one well-targeted jihadi attack on naval base PNS Mehran in Karachi that ended on Monday after a 15-hour gun-battle which left 10 security persons and four attackers dead. At least two of the five P-3C Orion long-range patrol aircraft, supplied to Pakistan Navy by the US, were destroyed in the attack.
The irony is stark. Pakistan got the P-3C Orions, packed with radars and weapons like the E-2C Hawkeye 2000 airborne early-warning suites and anti-ship Harpoon missiles, from the US as part of the around $15 billion military aid in the name of the global war on terrorism over the last decade.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Naval-base-attack-Big-blow-to-Pakistans-snooping-capabilities/articleshow/8543410.cms
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Suicide bombing in Kazakhstan, casualties reported
May 24, 2011
ALMATY, Kazakhstan: A suicide bomber blew himself up outside the headquarters of the security services in the Kazakh capital Astana early Tuesday, causing casualties, the Interfax news agency said.
A car with one or two people inside exploded outside the entrance to the headquarters at around 3:30 am (0130 GMT) and body parts of the passengers were blown out by the force of the blast, witnesses told the agency.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Suicide-bombing-in-Kazakhstan-casualties-reported/articleshow/8550787.cms
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Pak wrests naval base after 17-hr Taliban siege
May 24, 2011
Omer Farooq Khan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's security forces regained control of Karachi's Mehran naval base after a night-long firefight with Taliban militants on Monday, killing four assailants and losing at least 10 of their men in one of the most audacious sieges in that country, lasting 17 hours.
The attackers armed with grenades, rocket-launchers and automatic weapons, swore revenge of "martyrdom of Osama bin Laden" and stormed the base under cover of darkness using ladders and cutting the wire to get into the facility late on Sunday night. Once in, they scattered around the sprawling compound setting off explosions and destroying two US-made PC-3 Orion surveillance aircraft, each worth Rs 162 crore.
Two attackers were shot dead and one blew himself up. While two militants escaped, a third is believed to be lying, possibly dead, under the debris. Among the 17 foreigners at the spot, 11 Chinese aviation trainers were safely evacuated, said Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pak-wrests-naval-base-after-17-hr-Taliban-siege/articleshow/8542478.cms
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US deports Pak man probed for links to Times Square bombing
May 24, 2011
The United States has deported a Pakistani man arrested during the extensive investigation following the failed Times Square bombing last year.
The deportation came after Aftab Ali Khan, 28, pleaded guilty in a federal court to charges of unlicensed money transmitting and immigration document fraud.
Following the dramatic arrest of Faisal Shahzad, who was all set to fly away after his failed attempt to set off a crude car bomb in New York's Times Square, the authorities arrested several persons including Khan of Massachusetts, along with his uncle and a man in Maine.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/340655/US-deports-Pak-man-probed-for-links-to-Times-Square-bombing.html
-India-worried.html
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Brazen Mehran attack hints at inside job: Experts
May 24, 2011
KARACHI: Terming the Taliban attack on the Mehran naval air base as a " big security lapse", Pakistani defence and political analysts on Monday said that "insiders" were facilitating the militants in their deadly agenda and asked the government and military to wake up to this.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Brazen-attack-hints-at-inside-job-Experts/articleshow/8542374.cms
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France to supply helicopters to NATO's Libya campaign
May 24, 2011
BRUSSELS: France will provide attack helicopters for NATO's air war in Libya to improve the alliance's ground strike capacity, French foreign minister Alain Juppe said on Monday.
Juppe, who was in Brussels for a European Union foreign ministers' meeting, said the helicopters would enable NATO "to better adapt our ground strike capacity with more precise means of (carrying out) strikes".
The Gazelle and Tigre class attack helicopters would be used as wanted by NATO planners under the UN Security Council resolution authorising military action to protect Libyan civilians from Muammar Gaddafi's forces, he added.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/France-to-supply-helicopters-to-NATOs-Libya-campaign/articleshow/8543530.cms
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Pak's ISI planned and funded 26/11, sings Headley
May 24, 2011
A key plotter of the Mumbai terror attack, Pakistani American David Coleman Headley, has told a court that he joined Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group as he hated India for "dismembering" Pakistan in 1971.
Implicating Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for providing support to LeT in carrying out the 2008 terror attack, Headley told a Chicago federal court Monday: "They coordinated with each other."
"ISI provided assistance to Lashkar through military and financial assistance and moral support," said Headley, who has pleaded guilty to taking part in planning the rampage to escape the death penalty, at the trial of his one time friend, Pakistan-born Canadian Tahawwur Rana.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/701130.aspx
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Bill for Kasab's upkeep Rs 10 crore, Maharashtra govt says no way
May 24, 2011
Maharashtra government is stunned after receiving a Rs 10 crore bill from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) towards reimbursing expenses on guarding 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab, lodged in the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai. Confirming that the state government did receive the Rs 10 crore tag from IT
BP, Medha Gadgil, principal secretary, home, told PTI that the Maharashtra authorities are writing to the ITBP.
"We are in the process of writing to them. We will explain that 26/11 terror attacks is not only an issue limited to Maharashtra but a national issue," she said.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Bill-for-Kasab-s-upkeep-Rs-10-crore-Maharashtra-govt-says-no-way/H1-Article1-701288.aspx
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Pak inquiry into base attack
May 24, 2011
Pakistan was on Tuesday investigating a brazen assault on a naval base in Karachi, raking over clues in a bid to identify the attackers who carried out the siege, two of whom may have escaped. It was the worst assault on a military base since the army headquarters was besieged in October 2009, pili
ng further embarrassment on the armed forces three weeks after Osama bin Laden was found living under their noses.
"A joint investigation team has started the investigation," one security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pakistan/Pak-inquiry-into-base-attack/Article1-701301.aspx
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Don't leave Afghanistan, India told U.S.
May 24, 2011
NEW DELHI: After U.S. President Barack Obama announced his intention to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan starting 2011, Indian officials, worried that this would be to the detriment of India's security, urged Washington against the decision.
U.S. diplomatic cables originating from Islamabad and New Delhi, accessed by The Hindu through WikiLeaks, clearly suggest that India was concerned about U.S. plans to exit from Afghanistan, and its possible repercussions on India's security.
President Obama had announced the planned drawdown of troops at a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in December 2009.
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=16008
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You will not be removed, Zardari assured Dogar
May 24, 2011
KARACHI: President Asif Zardari told US Ambassador Anne Patterson a day after signing the Murree Declaration with PML-N head Nawaz Sharif that he and Mr Sharif had agreed that Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry would not be restored and reassured the then Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar that he need not worry about the declaration.
The major clause of the Murree Declaration, signed on March 9, 2008 was believed to be a big breakthrough for parliamentary cooperation between the two major winners of the February elections. Its primary clause related to the agreement to restore all the judges within 30 days who were removed under Gen Pervez Musharraf`s November 3 Emergency proclamation.
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=16007
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US condemns attack on Pak naval base
May 24, 2011
WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday condemned a deadly attack on a naval base in Karachi, saying it showed the need for Pak-US cooperation despite differences between both sides.
"We strongly condemn this terrorist attack and we're committed to working with Pakistan... in a joint effort to combat this kind of violent extremism," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. He said no Americans personnel were killed or injured in the attack.
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15992
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Britain backs Pakistan after base attack
May 24, 2011
LONDON: British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday condemned the attack on a naval base in Karachi and said London stood alongside Pakistan in the fight against violent extremism.
Pakistani forces regained control of the base 17 hours after heavily armed Taliban gunmen attacked under cover of night late Sunday, destroying two US-made surveillance planes and killing 10 personnel.
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15989
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Call for Pak, India meeting in Kashmir: A call for Hurriyat Conference
May 24, 2011
SRINAGAR – Expressing its willingness to engage in an 'unconditional dialogue' with New Delhi and Islamabad moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference said Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers should make a new begining by holding their next talks on Kashmir in Srinagar.
Chief spokesman of the amalgam, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat told a public rally in north Kashmir town of Kupwara that Kashmiris as the principal stake holders should tell India and Pakistan to come forward and “talk to us.”
Full report at:
http://dailymailnews.com/0511/24/FrontPage/index.php?id=12
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Gunbattle in Yemen as transition deal collapses
May 24, 2011
Yemeni loyalist forces fought a gunbattle yesterday with opponents of entrenched President Ali Abdullah Saleh one day after he backed out of a Gulf-brokered accord for him to step down.
The clashes in the capital Sanaa cast fresh doubt on prospects for a political solution to a three-month crisis in which youth-led demonstrators, inspired by protests that swept aside the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, are demanding an end to Saleh's 33-year rule.
"There is heavy gunfire and violent clashing between government forces and Sheikh (Sadiq) al-Ahmar's guards," a witness said, referring to a powerful tribal leader who has sided with protesters. No injuries were reported.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=187028
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Palestinian president defends new unity government with Hamas
May 24, 2011
AMMAN: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sought Monday to defend his new unity government with the Hamas movement, saying criticism by US President Barack Obama represented a “wrong understanding” of the deal.
Abbas’ comments followed talks with Jordan’s King Abdallah in the Jordanian capital and were noted in a royal palace statement.
They were his first remarks on major speeches the US president delivered in recent days.
Last week, Obama outlined his policy on the Middle East, roiled by popular Arab uprisings, and endorsed Israel’s 1967 boundaries as the basis of negotiations for a future Palestine.
Hoping to revive stalled Israel-Palestinian peace talks, Obama addressed the powerful Jewish lobby group, AIPAC, in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. He repeated a request for the Palestinians drop their plans to appeal for UN recognition and raised concerns about an emerging Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas.
Abbas said that there was a misunderstanding of the unity government with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article424976.ece
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Iran to hit back at West with sanctions of its own
May 24, 2011
TEHRAN: Iran is considering imposing sanctions on US officials for “human rights violations,” attempting to turn the tables after years of sanctions imposed by the West.
As European Union foreign ministers added 100 Iranian companies and individuals to a sanctions blacklist on Monday, Iran’s Parliament was set to debate censuring 26 US officials, Arman daily reported.
“Under this plan, 26 American officials who have a history of human rights violations in the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan, and who support terrorism will be sanctioned,” lawmaker Kazem Jalali was quoted as saying.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article424317.ece
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicWorldNews_1.aspx?ArticleID=4689
11:30 PM
Moderate Islamist here
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