Pakistan court allows Musharraf to go abroad
Karachi, June 12
Former President of Pakistan Gen Pervez Musharraf may be able to fly abroad after a fortnight with a Pakistani court today ordering the government to lift a travel ban slapped on the former military ruler last year.

US renews drone strikes in Pak; 16 militants killed
Islamabad, June 12
Sixteen militants, including 10 from the dreaded Haqqani network, were killed in two successive CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s restive tribal region as the US resumed its controversial unmanned spy plane programme after a five-month hiatus.

Baghdad, June 12
Militants have seized the Iraqi city of Tikrit as a jihadist offensive sweeps closer to Baghdad, prompting the UN Security Council to convene crisis talks on Thursday while the US mulls air strikes on the rebels.

An image made from a video shows a militant standing in front of a burning Iraqi army Humvee in Tikrit.

Iraqi Kurdish forces took control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Thursday, after government troops abandoned their posts in the face of a triumphant Sunni Islamist rebel march towards Baghdad that threatens Iraq’s future as a unified state. In Mosul, Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) staged a parade of American Humvees seized from the collapsing Iraqi army in the two days since the fighters drove out of the desert and overran Iraq’s second biggest city.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized the second city of Mosul on Tuesday and has since captured a large swathe of northern and north-central Iraq, including Tikrit — the hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.

ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani promised the battle would “rage” on the capital Baghdad and Karbala, a city southwest of the capital that is considered one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

The UN Security Council swiftly convened a meeting to discuss the crisis in a sign of growing international alarm at the fast-moving situation. Diplomats said the closed consultations would begin at 11:30am and include a briefing by video link from the UN special representative to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov.

Washington is considering several options for offering military assistance to Baghdad, including drone strikes, a US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Resorting to such aircraft — used in Afghanistan and Pakistan in a highly controversial programme — would mark a dramatic shift in the US engagement in Iraq, after the last American troops pulled out in late 2011.

State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US was committed to “working with the Iraqi government and leaders across Iraq to support a unified approach against ISIL’s continued aggression.” But there is no current plan to send US troops back into Iraq, where around 4,500 American soldiers died in the bitter conflict. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Washington “strongly condemns” the ISIL attacks and “will stand with Iraqi leaders”.

And UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon urged the international community to unite behind Iraq, warning that “terrorism must not be allowed to succeed in undoing the path toward democracy in Iraq.”

ISIL vowed on Twitter that it would “not stop this series of blessed invasions”. In Tehran, foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Shiite Iran “offers its support to the government and people of Iraq against terrorism.” — Agencies

The Obama administration is reacting with alarm as Islamic militants overrun cities in Iraq and make a push for the capital Baghdad, laying to waste a US investment of billions of dollars and thousands of American and Iraqi lives during a nearly decade-long war.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest described the situation in Iraq as “grave,” while State Department spokesman Jennifer Psaki said the Obama administration is “very concerned about the deteriorating security situation.”

Since the start of the year the US has ramped up shipments of military equipment to the Iraqi government and training of Iraqi security forces, and will provide additional assistance to combat the threat posed by ISIL, said Psaki. However, she declined to elaborate on the nature of that assistance.

The Iraqi government reportedly wants the US to take a more active role in countering the militant offensive. The New York Times reported that as ISIL militants made gains, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in May urged the Obama administration to consider conducting drone strikes against the militants. The White House rebuffed this request, the Times reported.

US President Barack Obama pulled US troops out of Iraq in December of 2011 after al-Maliki’s government refused to grant them immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law. Al-Maliki’s critics accuse him of monopolising power and alienating both the minority Kurdish and Sunni communities.

The violence is fueled in part by the Maliki government’s policies, political rivalries and the civil war raging across the border in Syria, according to analysts. US officials, while privately expressing concern with al-Maliki’s actions, in public have adopted a much more measured tone. 

Islamabad, June 12
Sixteen militants, including 10 from the dreaded Haqqani network, were killed in two successive CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s restive tribal region as the US resumed its controversial unmanned spy plane programme after a five-month hiatus.

Six militants including four Uzbeks were killed in the first strike last night around five km north of Miranshah, the capital of the North Waziristan tribal region, Pakistani military sources said today.

Reports said all the 10 militants killed in the second strike today were affiliated with the feared Haqqani network that regularly launches attacks on US-led Western forces in Afghanistan.

The drone strikes came after the deadly attack at Karachi airport on Sunday that left 39 people dead including 10 Taliban militants, reportedly Uzbek fighters. A security official said three missiles were fired at a compound in the early morning attack.

“So far according to information received at least 10 militants were killed,” said the official. He said four militants were also injured.

The last drone attack occurred in Pakistan in the last week of December, 2013, killing three insurgents. — PTI

Action to continue to hunt down terrorists

• The drone strikes had been temporarily halted since then to provide the Pakistani government a chance to have talks with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan aimed at ending their seven-year insurgency
• US President Barack Obama last month made it clear that he will continue to authorise CIA-operated drone strikes and covert operations abroad to capture terrorists based on “actionable intelligence”.

Singapore, June 12
Two Indian workers were today sentenced to jail by a Singapore court after they admitted their involvement in the Little India riot last December, the city-state’s worst street violence in 40 years.

Moorthy Kabildev (25) and Mongan Anbalagan (41) pleaded guilty to rioting on December 8 in Singapore’s Little India, a precinct of Indian origin businesses, eateries and pubs.

Kabildev initially faced two charges - one for rioting and one for causing hurt by allegedly punching bus time-keeper Madam Wong Geck Woon, The Straits Times reported today. He pleaded guilty to the former and the prosecution withdrew the other charge, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Sarah Ong.

Kabildev was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment, backdated to his December 9 arrest date. — PTI