W O R L D

NATO copters strike in Pak, 53 killed
Islamabad/Washington, September 27
Chasing militants of the Haqqani network, NATO helicopters carried out at least two airstrikes in Pakistan killing more than 53 Taliban fighters, after insurgents had attacked an Afghan security outpost near the border.

N-armed Pak to chair IAEA board
Vienna, September 27
Pakistan, which refuses to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and was home to a notorious nuclear smuggling ring, was named head of the UN nuclear watchdog's governing board here today.

David Miliband may quit politics
London, September 27
Speculation is rife that David Miliband, the defeated brother of Britain’s opposition Labour Party’s new leader Ed Miliband, may quit politics., a media report said.

India, B’desh agree to combat infiltration
Dhaka, September 27
India and Bangladesh today agreed to step up cooperation to combat illegal infiltration, smuggling of narcotics and prevent casualties in cross-border firing as they ended a key conference of frontier guards here.

BAND OF BROTHERS: Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband (left) with his brother David in Manchester on Monday.

NATO copters strike in Pak, 53 killed

Operation Dragon Strike Kandahar: Hundreds of Afghan policemen on Monday joined a key military offensive against the Taliban in their heartland in southern Afghanistan, officials said. NATO forces are leading a new push against insurgents in Kandahar city and surrounding areas, dubbed Operation Dragon Strike, officials said. Dragon Strike was the latest phase of Operation Hamkari, seen as a last-ditch effort to eliminate the Taliban from Kandahar and the surrounding areas of Zhari, Panjawyi and Arghandab, long regarded as Taliban hotbeds. — PTI

Islamabad/Washington, September 27
Chasing militants of the Haqqani network, NATO helicopters carried out at least two airstrikes in Pakistan killing more than 53 Taliban fighters, after insurgents had attacked an Afghan security outpost near the border.

The helicopter gunships trained their guns on Haqqani militants at least 6 km inside Pakistan on Saturday after the insurgents had attacked an Afghan army outpost.

“The ISAF helicopters did cross into Pakistan territory to engage the insurgents,” NATO commanders were quoted as saying by the US media and the commanders defended their action saying that they had a right to self-defence,” an ISAF spokesman said.

The helicopters returned to the border area yesterday when they were attacked by small fire by insurgents from North Waziristan in Pakistan. “The gunships struck back at the insurgents engaging them and killed four militants,” the spokesman said.

The Haqqani network and fighters of the Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur control the tribal areas in Pakistan’s North Waziristan where the airstrikes took place.

Washington, New York Times reported has been pressing Islamabad to launch military offensive against the Haqqani network.

This is the first time that US manned aircraft have carried out airstrikes in North Waziristan, where earlier Washington has been using unmanned drones to attack Taliban militants. The NY Times quoting Pakistani military officials said two more NATO helicopters carried out a third strike inside Pakistani territory today killing five militants and wounding nine others.

The helicopters bombed and fired missiles at a village in the Khurram tribal area which faces Afghanistan’s Paktia province.

Washington has branded the rugged tribal area, which lies outside Pakistani government control, a global headquarters of Al-Qaida and the most dangerous place on Earth.

The Americans have carried out 19 missile strikes in this area in last 24 days killing around 90 people. While stepping up drone attacks, the US and NATO special forces, have simultaneously been carrying out hit and run raids on the Haqqani network in Afghanistan. — PTI

N-armed Pak to chair IAEA board

Vienna, September 27
Pakistan, which refuses to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and was home to a notorious nuclear smuggling ring, was named head of the UN nuclear watchdog's governing board here today.

At a special one-day meeting, the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board of governors appointed "by acclamation" the head of Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission, Ansar Parvez, as its chairman for the next 12 months, taking over from Malaysia.

The board of governors is the IAEA's most important policy-making body after the 151-nation general conference and meets five times a year.

Its rotating chair is appointed for a period of one year with the main task of presiding over debates and helping the board of governors reach consensus decisions.

Parvez said he saw no problem with the choice, even though Pakistan, like India and Israel, refuses to sign the NPT. Pakistan has held the chair before and India has done so twice.

Some observers see Pakistan as a potential problem because it was home to a nuclear-smuggling ring run by scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb and a national hero. Khan publicly confessed in 2004 that he shared atomic secrets with Iran, Libya and North Korea, although he later retracted his remarks. — AFP

David Miliband may quit politics

London, September 27
Speculation is rife that David Miliband, the defeated brother of Britain’s opposition Labour Party’s new leader Ed Miliband, may quit politics., a media report said. The 45-year-old former British Foreign Secretary could quit frontline politics rather than serve under his 40-year-old younger brother Ed, the Daily Express reported.

In fact, Ed, the former British Energy Secretary, won the Labour leadership after narrowly beating brother David and three other candidates in a cliffhanger internal poll held on Saturday, nearly four months after the party was ousted in general election, following 13 years in power.

David, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, stayed away from the new leader’s first address to Labour MPs in Manchester on Sunday, which added fuel to the speculation that he could be looking for a dignified exit, the report said. — PTI

India, B’desh agree to combat infiltration

Dhaka, September 27
India and Bangladesh today agreed to step up cooperation to combat illegal infiltration, smuggling of narcotics and prevent casualties in cross-border firing as they ended a key conference of frontier guards here.

The five-day Director-General level conference between Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and Border Security Force discussed a series of issues, including combating illegal infiltration and narcotics smuggling and preventing casualties in cross border firing along the common porous frontier areas.

BDR chief Maj Gen Rafiqul Islam, who was head of the 22-member delegation at the talks, said the discussions focused on two precise issues — smuggling, particularly drugs which spoils the young generation, and deaths of Bangladeshi people along the border. — PTI