Blasts near Bhutto kill 126 in Pakistan

NF Reporter · 10-19-2007, 12:50 AM

AP - A suicide bombing in a crowd welcoming former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed up to 126 people Thursday night, shattering her celebratory procession through Pakistan's biggest city after eight years in exile.

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waltky · 10-22-2007, 01:41 AM

Granny says, "Send in the Marines!"...

Pakistan is the most dangerous country: Report
22 Oct 2007, : Pakistan, which recently witnessed a series of suicide attacks by pro-Taliban and Al-Qaida militants, is the most dangerous country in the world, and has become a safe haven for terrorists, a media report says.

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"Unlike countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan has everything Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden could ask for: political instability, a trusted network of radical Islamists, an abundance of angry anti-Western recruits, secluded training areas and security services that don't always do what they're supposed to do," says Newsweek in an investigative report being published in its upcoming issue.

Then there's the country's large and growing nuclear programme, it adds ominously. The conventional story about Pakistan, it says, has been that it is an unstable nuclear power, with distant tribal areas in terrorist hands.

"What is new, and more frightening, is the extent to which Taliban and Al-Qaida elements have now turned much of the country, including some cities, into a base that gives militants more room to manoeuvre, both in Pakistan and beyond," it adds. Taliban militants, the magazine reports, now "pretty much come and go" as they please inside Pakistan. Their sick and injured get patched up in private hospitals there.

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'US should prepare contingency plan for Pakistan'
22 Oct 2007, : The US government should prepare a "contingency plan" for Pakistan in case Pervez Musharraf regime falls because of presence of nuclear weapons, a top opposition lawmaker has said while warning that the Islamic country was in for "a very rough period".

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Democrat Jane Harman, who is in the House Intelligence Panel, said "more could have been done" to prevent the bombing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's motorcade that killed nearly 140 people last week. "She could have had jammers to prevent these IEDs from going off. And Pakistan's in for a very rough period, and so is the world," the Congresswoman from California said.

Harman said Musharraf "is in a weak point," and his election and the way it was brought about "may not have been the best idea". "And I think the US would be wise -- and I trust we are doing this -- to have contingency plans in the area, especially because should he fall, there are nuclear weapons there," she said. The Democrat also expressed concern over the situation in Pakistan's tribal areas infested by the Taliban and al Qaeda militants.

"The tribal areas of Pakistan, which he (Musharraf) really has no control over, are now the new staging ground or maybe the old staging ground for al Qaeda. We know that Westerners are training there. It is truly a worrisome situation. " However, Harman disagreed that Musharraf was doing "what's necessary" to rein in extremists saying the deal he made with tribals "was a colossal strategic mistake" for him.

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waltky · 01-10-2008, 01:35 AM

New Taliban chief...

New Taliban Leader: More Dangerous Than Bin Laden?
January 09, 2008 - The newly appointed leader of the Taliban in Pakistan is being called more dangerous than Osama bin Laden by analysts there.

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His movement was created last month when 26 Pakistani militant groups joined forces to fight for an Islamic regime there, tribal sources say. Baitullah Meshud, also known as the emir of South Waziristan, is described by Pakistani authorities as a brutal but able leader who commands thousands of followers. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf blames him for the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, as well as a spate of recent attacks here that have left more than 400 dead. NATO authorities in Afghanistan have offered a $50,000 reward for his capture.

"I think he is now a much bigger threat than bin Laden and al Zawahri in this part of the world," said ABC News consultant Rahimullah Yusufzai. "He seems to have a large reservoir of suicide bombers, and he is a bigger threat in this region, in Pakistan and certain border provinces of Afghanistan than even the al Qaeda leadership," said Yusufzai.

Like Mullah Omar, who leads the Afghan Taliban, Meshud refuses to be photographed. He lives on the run, according to Pakistani authorities who are tracking him, and never sleeps in the same bed twice. "We know he is training suicide bombers. We know he is indoctrinating suicide bombers," Musharraf told foreign journalists last week.

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waltky · 01-13-2008, 09:31 PM

Scotland Yard conclusion supports Musharraf...

Al-Qaida killed Benazir: UK cops
13 Jan 2008, London has supported Musharraf's disputed account that Al-Qaida's south Waziristan leader Baitullah Mehsud masterminded Benazir's assassination.

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Benazir Bhutto was killed by Al-Qaida militants, after all, according to British officials who say evidence collected by Scotland Yard detective's points to the theory advertised by President Musharraf's regime. Quoting unnamed British and American diplomats, The Sunday Times , London have supported Musharraf's disputed account that Al-Qaida south Waziristan leader Baitullah Mehsud masterminded the assassination and later congratulated the perpetrators on a "fantastic job".

Though doubts have been cast on the credibility of the transcript of Mehsud's telephone conversation, the paper quotes the Western diplomats to say it is genuine. Mehsud, say the diplomats, had despatched teams of suicide bombers round the country to follow Bhutto as she addressed innumerable campaign rallies. The putative suicide bombers, were meant to seize a likely moment and kill the former prime minister, the diplomats said.

Observers said Western support for Musharraf's contentious claim could boomerang on the Pakistani president and further erode support for his version of events. Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, has significantly rejected the series of leaked revelations from the Scotland Yard inquiry, insisting that "she (Bhutto) was a world leader. We don't just want a sergeant from Scotland Yard determining the angle of fire". Zardari repeated his demand for a wide-ranging United Nations-led investigation into the gun-and-bomb attack as well as the previous suicide bombing of her bus in October.

The Western claims, which undeniably lend ballast to Musharraf's case, also express deep sympathy for the Pakistani administration's very obvious inability to capture Mehsud despite his allegedly pivotal role in the killing. The officials insisted, in an indication of delayed Western realisation that Pakistan now has far too many ungovernable, no-go areas, "It's not so easy to go into tribal areas. Look what happened to the last lot of Pakistani soldiers who tried". Meanwhile, the five Scotland Yard experts on video evidence and forensic science have been joined by three explosives specialists. The British team met Musharraf last week to apprise him of their initial findings.

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Musharraf favours exhuming Benazir's body
14 Jan 2008, Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has favoured exhumation of the body of the former Premier but said the post-mortem cannot be done without the consent of her family.

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Rejecting accusations that his government was complicit in the killing of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has favoured exhumation of the body of the former Premier but said the post-mortem cannot be done without the consent of her family.

"Yes, exhume it (the body). A 100%. I would like it to be exhumed. Because I know for sure there is no bullet wound other than on the right side. Whether it was a bullet or a strike, I don't want to comment, I don't know," Musharraf said in a wide-ranging interview to 'Newsweek'.

The president said that the man in charge of the security of Bhutto — who was killed in a gun and suicide attack on December 27 in Rawalpindi — was "her own handpicked superintendent of police". "This area (where she was killed) was known to be dangerous. There was a death threat, intelligence that there would be an attack, and we told her, yet she wanted to go."

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waltky · 09-05-2008, 12:44 AM

Zardari gettin' himself in the same squeeze play as Musharraf...

Zardari backs US against terrorism
5 Sep 2008, Pakistan stands with the US against international terrorism, the Muslim nation's presidential front-runner wrote in a column amid furor over a US-led cross-border attack in Pakistani territory.

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The raid in the South Waziristan tribal region was the first known foreign ground assault in Pakistan against a Taliban haven. The Pakistani government summoned the US ambassador to protest the incursion, which officials said killed at least 15 people, including civilians. An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said US troops conducted the raid Wednesday about 1 mile beyond the Afghan frontier.

The boldness of the thrust fed speculation about the intended target. But it was unclear whether any extremist leader was killed or captured in the operation, which occurred in one of the militant strongholds dotting a frontier region considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida's no. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi condemned the attack in an impassioned speech to lawmakers on Thursday, saying it “violated the sovereignty of Pakistan.” He also said “no important terrorist or high-value target” was killed. “Innocent citizens, including women and children, have been targeted,” Qureshi said. Officials said they had no indication US forces captured anyone in the raid. A foreign ministry spokesman said the government had no information al-Qaida leaders were in the area at the time.

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