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Eight killed as Taliban targets Pak counter-terrorism officer
4 killed in Peshawar blast
Retirement notification for Pak investigation official
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Gaddafi’s son Seif seen in battle for Bani Walid
Yemeni forces kill 21 protesters
A woman reacts as she waits outside a makeshift clinic for news about her son, injured during the clashes. — Reuters Keep off South China Sea, China warns India again Indian soldiers to get a rare honour in Israel ‘Drunk’ navigator blamed for Russian air crash
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Eight killed as Taliban targets Pak counter-terrorism officer
Karachi/Islamabad, Sept 19 Special Superintendent of Police Chaudhry Aslam, who was the target, escaped unhurt in the early morning attack that flattened his house in the posh Defence area of Karachi. Six of those killed in the attack, that took place at 7.30 am, were the officer’s bodyguards. Others included a woman and her child. The banned terror group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack and has given a list of five officers who they will target. Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan said the banned outfit would also be targeting other police officials involved in arresting and killing of its cadre members. He went on to name five Karachi police officials on the Taliban According to sources, Aslam had earlier received threats from various militant groups including the Taliban. Aslam was part of a special unit that conducted operations against militants and criminal gangs and he had captured several persons linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. “I will not be cowed. I will teach a lesson to generations of militants...I did not know that these terrorists were such cowards that they would attack sleeping children,” said Aslam speaking to the media. He called the attack a cowardly one. The officer and his family were shifted to an undisclosed location soon after the attack. The blast, which was heard from several kilometres away, damaged several nearby houses and cars parked in the area. The explosion caused a 10-foot-deep and 25-foot-wide crater. Police officials said the bomber had used 300 kg Debris from the officer’s home was hurled over a large distance. A plume of smoke was seen rising into the sky. Several schools and educational institutions are located near the officer’s home and the blast was followed by a traffic snarl as parents rushed to the area to pick up their children. The woman killed in the blast was a school teacher while the dead child was her 12-year-old son, officials at Jinnah Hospital said. Karachi has witnessed several high-profile terrorist attacks, including one in May on the Mehran naval airbase that killed 10 security personnel. Aslam himself was the target of another attack that killed two of his bodyguards. —
PTI
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Islamabad, September 19 The explosion targeted a shop selling compact discs in Nishatarbad area of Peshawar, officials said. A woman was among those killed. More than 30 people were injured by the blast, which triggered a massive fire that engulfed several buildings, shops and cars. The bomb was hidden
in a motorcycle, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister Bashir Bilour told media persons. The blast was heard from several kilometres away. Rescue efforts were hampered by a power outage in the area. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital. Footage on television showed several shops on fire as thick smoke rose over Nishtarabad Chowk. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. The Taliban has carried out a wave of attacks on shops selling music and movies across northwest Pakistan in the past four years. Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into the home of a senior police officer in Karachi, killing eight persons, including a woman and her 12-year-old son. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out to avenge the killing of militants by the police officer. —
PTI
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Retirement notification for Pak investigation official
The Pakistan government on Monday issued a notification for retirement of Additional Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency, Zafar Qureshi in apparent defiance of Supreme Court’s directive to let him conclude probe into high-profile financial scandals involving some top leaders’ sons. According to sources close to the official, the notification has been received by Zafir Qureshi and he will retire on September 30. Qureshi is the investigating officer in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) case in which Moonis Elahi, the son of senior federal minister and former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has been implicated. Qureshi had been suspended twice while he was investigating the multi-billion-rupee scam. He was reinstated on August 4 after the Supreme Court quashed his July 4 suspension order. After his reinstatement, Qureshi had complained of non-cooperation by the FIA officials. The PPP government badly needs support of the Chaudhrys of Gujarat who lead Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), for its stability and sustenance at the Centre. Devious methods have allegedly been used to save Moonis Elahi, who is currently in jail.
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Gaddafi’s son Seif seen in battle for Bani Walid Bani Walid, September 19 “The revolutionaries came to Bani Walid this morning and engaged in a hard battle, Abdullah Kenshil,” a senior official in the National Transitional Council (NTC), said. Kenshil said the battle against Gaddafi's mercenaries for control of Bani Walid, one of the ousted strongman's few remaining bastions southeast of Tripoli, was a “done deal and will be completed in the next two days.” The NTC official said that Seif al-Islam, the most prominent son of the ousted Libyan leader, had been seen in Bani Walid, and that it is likely that his father is also in the oasis town. “Seif al-Islam was seen in Bani Walid; this is 100 percent certain. As for his father, he was there too; we are 70 percent sure,” Kenshil told AFP, adding they were only being defended by mercenaries. “Those fighting in Bani Walid are not necessarily Gaddafi's brigades, whose members joined the NTC forces, ” said Kenshil, adding they were “mercenaries from Chad, Niger and Togo, according to the bodies we have recovered.” Gaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi have been at large since rebels overran Tripoli on August 23. They are wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity. Yesterday, the NTC’s forces had been beaten back after pushing into Bani Walid. Correspondents heard loud explosions and intermittent gunfire from inside the town, and rockets exploded near NTC positions on its outskirts. “We folded because of the intensity of the bombing by the loyalist forces against our positions,” Kenshil said. —
AFP
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Yemeni forces kill 21 protesters
Sanaa, September 19 Gunfire and shelling echoed sporadically across the divided capital as pro-Saleh troops and protesters clashed on Monday. "Help me, oh my God look at this slaughter!" said the father of a boy who died from a gunshot wound to the head. "We were just in the car on Hayel Street (near the fighting). I stepped out to get some food and left my two boys in the car and I heard the older one scream. The little one was shot straight through the head." — Reuters
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Keep off South China Sea, China warns India again
"China enjoys indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and our position is based on full historical and jurisprudential evidence," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hong Lei told a media briefing here today. "Any country engaged in oil and gas exploration activities in this jurisdiction without the approval of the Chinese government constitutes an infringement upon China's sovereignty and national interest and are therefore illegal and invalid," he said. "We hope relevant countries keep China's claim, position and rights and interest in mind, follow the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and Guidelines in real earnest, refrain from unilateral actions that may complicate and magnify the dispute. Countries outside the region should respect efforts by regional countries to solve this dispute through bilateral negotiations," he said. Asked whether China expects that India and Vietnam should take its permission for oil exploration, Hong said China's historical and jurisprudential evidence prove that China first discovered the first South China Sea islands and was the first to exercise administration over the islands. "Since then China has management and control over these islands which form the historical rights of China in the South China Sea,” he said. Specifically, since the Han Dynasty China discovered the relevant islands and since the Tang Dynasty successive Chinese governments have exercised administration over the islands," he said. — PTI
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Indian soldiers to get a rare honour in Israel Haifa (Israel), September 19 "The residents of Haifa have learnt to appreciate the contribution of the Indian soldiers and as a mark of recognition, the stories of their brave deeds will be taught at schools here to preserve the city's history and heritage," acting Mayor of Haifa, Hedva Almog, said addressing a gathering assembled to pay respects to the fallen Indian soldiers. A large number of Indian soldiers sacrificed their lives in this region during the First World War and nearly 900 are cremated or buried in cemeteries across Israel. India's Ambassador to Israel Navtej Sarna released a book, Memorials of Indian soldiers in Israel, on the occasion as part of an initiative that will spread more awareness and greater recognition for the supreme sacrifice made by these soldiers. "It was no ordinary battle because the Indian soldiers, hailing from various parts of the country and belonging to different faiths, fought bravely for the British here while back home Indians were fighting against them for Independence," Sarna said. The commemoration is "a part of a mosaic of this very wide ranging Indo-Israel ties," the Indian envoy said. He also thanked the role of the Haifa Historical Society which has done an extensive research on the role of the Indian Army in the region. — PTI
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‘Drunk’ navigator blamed for Russian air crash Moscow, September 19 The Tu-134 plane of the US-registered RusAir airline was going to northern Karelia region's capital Petrozavodsk from Moscow, when it crash-landed on a highway near the airport in bad weather. The probe report said the crew decided "not to go round for a second approach before landing as the plane was already below a "minimum safety altitude". It also cited poor crew resource management (CRM) by the captain as a contributory factor. Meanwhile, the MAK yesterday virtually confirmed the media report about "a blonde's error" as the cause of another air crash on September 7 in Yaroslavl, when the entire local ice hockey team was killed among the 44 people on board Yakovlev Yak-42 jet. In its report published on yesterday on its website the probe authority said even after the end of the runway the Yak-42 continued run on the ground for another 400 meters and failed to attain speed required for a smooth takeoff. "Something was arresting its speed..." the MAK said. — PTI
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In a brazen attack, a Taliban suicide bomber today rammed his 300 kg explosive-laden vehicle into the house of a senior Pakistani counter-terrorism officer.
Yemeni security forces killed 21 people, some shot by snipers from rooftops, in a crowd of demonstrators on Monday in the worst bloodshed seen since March against a protest movement demanding the removal of President Ali Abdullah
Saleh. Medics said a further 113 protesters were wounded in the capital
Sanaa, a day after 26 demonstrators in a massive anti-government march were shot dead.
Beijing, September 19