Islamabad, June 16
Pakistani Taliban today warned all international organisations and individuals to leave the country or face violence as it was in a "state of war".

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that Pakistan had buried the desire of its people for peace in the North Waziristan tribal region and launched a military operation to make its western backers happy.

"All international agencies, airlines and investors should immediately suspend all commercial ties with Pakistan and leave the country as we are in a state of war. Otherwise these foreign institutions or individuals will be responsible for any harm coming to them," he said in a statement.

Shahid said the money made by business relations with Pakistan is being used to fund the military operation and target the Muslims in the tribal region

He vowed to fight hard and make "the attackers a symbol of destruction".

The statement came a day after Pakistan launched the much-awaited military operation against foreign and local militants hiding in sanctuaries near the Afghan border.

The operation was launched a week after the Pakistani Taliban brazenly attacked the Karachi airport.

At least 105 militants, including the Uzbek mastermind of the Karachi airport attack, were killed yesterday in early morning raids by air force bombers in Pakistan's troubled northwestern tribal region.

The jets bombed hideouts of terrorists in Degan and Dattakhel areas of North Waziristan. The North Waziristan tribal region is considered as hub of Al-Qaida linked local and foreign terrorists.

The North Waziristan Agency has been isolated by deploying troops along its border with neighbouring agencies and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to block any movement of terrorists, a statement by the army's media wing said.

Within the Agency, troops have moved and cordoned off all terrorists bases, including the town of Mirali and Miranshah, the statement said. Surrender points have also been made for those militants who chose to quit violence and give up their arms. Aerial surveillance of the area is being carried out by surveillance platforms, it said.

The Afghan security forces have also been requested to seal the border on their side to facilitate elimination of terrorists who attempt to escape across the border, the Army said. — PTI 

Mosul, June 16
The United States said it could launch air strikes and act jointly with its arch-enemy Iran to support the Iraqi government, after a rampage by Sunni Islamist insurgents across Iraq that has torn up traditional alliances in the Middle East. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have routed Baghdad's army and seized the north of the country in the past week, threatening to dismember Iraq and unleash all-out sectarian warfare with no regard for national borders.

Joint action between the US and Iran to help prop up the government of their mutual ally would be unprecedented since Iran's 1979 revolution, demonstrating the urgency of the alarm raised by the lightning insurgent advance. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the advance an "existential threat" for Iraq.

Asked if the United States could cooperate with Iran against the insurgents, Kerry told Yahoo News: "I wouldn't rule out anything that would be constructive." As for air strikes: "They're not the whole answer, but they may well be one of the options that are important," he said.

"When you have people murdering, assassinating in these mass massacres, you have to stop that. And you do what you need to do if you need to try to stop it from the air or otherwise."

Britain, once Washington's only major battlefield ally in Iraq, announced it had already reached out to Iran in recent days. A US official said meetings with Iran could come this week on the sidelines of separate international nuclear talks.

Iran has longstanding ties to Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Shi'ite politicians who came to power in Iraq after the US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

ISIL seeks a caliphate ruled on mediaeval Sunni Muslim precepts in Iraq and Syria, fighting against both Iraq's Maliki and Syria's Bashar al-Assad. It considers all Shi'ites to be heretics deserving death and has boasted of massacring hundreds of Iraqi troops who surrendered to its forces last week. — Reuters

Colombo, June 16
At least three persons were killed and nearly 100 others injured when communal clashes broke out in a popular Sri Lankan tourist region, even as President Mahinda Rajapaksa today warned rioters against taking law into their own hands in curfew-bound areas.

The ethnic violence between Buddhists and minority Muslims began last night during a rally by majority nationalist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) in Muslim-dominated areas of Beruwala, Dharga Town and Aluthgama on the Sinhala-dominated south-western coast in protest against a road rage incident.

“Three deaths have occurred and 78 persons have been seriously wounded in the mob attacks... Places of Muslim religious worship have also been attacked with total impunity,” Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem said.

However, independent report suggested that nearly 100 persons were wounded in the violence. Hakeem said scores of homes and businesses have been set on fire. Some mosques in the areas were also attacked.

Authorities said the curfew imposed last night would remain in effect in Aluthgama and Beruwala after Muslim-owned shops and homes were torched in the rampage by a Buddhist mob.

The affected areas, mainly inhabited by Muslims who constitute about 10 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 20 million population, are about 60 km south of Colombo.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is currently visiting Bolivia, has said in a statement that he would “not to let anyone take law into their hands.”

Meanwhile, the US asked Sri Lanka to end the violence. “We urge the government to ensure that order is preserved and the lives of all citizens, places of worship, and property are protected,” the US embassy said in a statement. — PTI

Tourists visit Tiananmen Square near the site of a suicide attack which left five persons dead last October, in Beijing on Monday. AFP

Beijing, June 16
China sentenced three persons to death on Monday over a deadly attack at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square last October, state television reported, an incident blamed by the government on Islamist militants.

One attacker was given a life sentence, and four others received jail terms ranging from five to 20 years. Five persons were killed and 40 hurt when a car ploughed into a crowd at the northern edge of Tiananmen Square and burst into flames.

Those killed included two bystanders and three persons in the car. Footage of the trial on state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) showed suspects in orange vests at a Xinjiang courthouse.

The court in Urumqi, the capital of the western region of Xinjiang, sentenced Husanjan Wuxur, Yusup Umarniyaz and Yusup Ahmat to death for organising and leading a terrorist group and using dangerous methods to endanger public security, state media reported. — Reuters