The defence ministry on Thursday accorded its approval to procure 30 MQ-9B Predator drones from the US to crank up the surveillance apparatus of the armed forces, especially along the frontier with China, people familiar with the development said.
World's most wanted terrorists Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri may be hiding close to each other in houses in northwest Pakistan, protected by some members of ISI, a media report has said.
Mumbai police has received text messages warning of a '26/11-like' attack on the city from a phone number with Pakistan's country code and a person has been detained in this connection, officials said on Saturday.
A top Al-Qaeda commander has reportedly been killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan's Ladha region. Fox News reported that neither Al-Qaeda chief Osama-bin-Laden or Qaeda's second man-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri were among those killed in the attack.
The anger of the youth might have been pacified initially if the governments at Srinagar and New Delhi had shown some understanding of the anger and initiated measures to defuse it, writes B Raman
A top Al Qaeda commander, who was reported to have been killed in a US drone strike last year, has appeared in a video warning India of more Mumbai-style terror attacks if it tried to attack Pakistan. 'India should know that it will have to pay a heavy price if it attacks Pakistan,' Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, believed to be Al Qaeda's military commander in Afghanistan and ranked behind No 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri, said in a 20-minute video in Arabic received by the BBC.
At separate press briefings on Tuesday, White House and State Department spokesmen refused to discuss alleged intelligence activities in Pakistan.
Al-Qaeda chief's daughters released for ex-Pakistan Army chief's son, claimed a media report.
The CNN quoted US intelligence officials saying that Ayman al-Zawahiri was assisting the al-Qaeda chief.
A senior Chinese diplomat was among those injured in terrorist attack.
No let up in crackdown on terror, says Musharraf
Some officials believe that he could have been a replacement for Hamza Rabia, Al Qaeda's operational commander, who was killed in a similar missile attack in Asory village in North Waziristan on December 2.
Heaping scorn at a audio tape purported to be from Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri seeking the overthrow of his government, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Friday asserted he would "eliminate" all Al Qaeda terrorists.
After the United States intercepted Al Qaeda's most serious threat in recent years to target its embassies, country's Special Forces have been put on high alert to hit potential targets of the outfit in the Middle East, a media report has said.
Al-Qaeda's reclusive chief Ayman al-Zawahiri is cut off from his top commanders and keeping the outfit afloat only through loyalty as the once world's most feared terror group is steadily losing recruits and funding sources to its splinter faction -- the Islamic State.
The sources said the talks are focused on sorting out certain issues relating to cost component, weapons package and technology sharing.
The daily grind of running a major terror outfit not only involves planning major strikes, but also poring over account books and calculating assets and liabilities.
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan's six top commanders on Tuesday pledged allegiance to the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has been vying for supremacy with Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The Centre on Thursday sounded a country-wide alert after an Al Qaeda video appeared in which the terror outfit threatened to carry out campaign in India. Home Minister Rajnath Singh went into a huddle with top security officials as an initial assessment of the Intelligence Bureau found the video to be genuine.
Former RAW Additional Secretary Jayadeva Ranade tells Rediff.com's Upasna Pandey that India needs to be extremely cautious and watchful of the estimated 35-40 Indians who may have joined the ISIS in Iraq and may return to the country.
United States officials have identified Pakistan as a base of operations or target for numerous armed and non state militant groups, some of which have existed since the 1980s, the independent Congressional Research Service said in the report.
The Islamic State has emerged as the most potent terrorist threat globally but in the Afghan-Pak region the space is dominated by other terrorist groups like Taliban, Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, America's top spymaster has said.
The United States on Thursday designated Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent, a regional branch of the global terror network, as a "foreign terrorist organisation" and added its chief Asim Umar on the list of global terrorist.
Interim Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi has put forward a proposal to legally dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood.
The United States on Tuesday evacuated nearly 90 Americans from Yemen, while the Britain has withdrawn all diplomatic staff in the country amid a worldwide terror alert linked to electronic intercepts from Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, ordering a major attack since 9/11.
Hamza, 29, has assumed a senior position within Al Qaeda and was aiming to avenge the death of his father, who was shot dead during a covert US military raid in Pakistan's Abbottabad seven years ago, Osama's half-brothers Ahmad and Hassan al-Attas were quoted as saying.
There is no threat from either Al Qaeda or ISIS of a magnitude which the country cannot deal with, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said on Tuesday but asserted that security agencies were keeping a "very close watch".
Egyptian security forces on Saturday surrounded a Cairo mosque full of supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi as the Muslim Brotherhood planned fresh marches after clashes left nearly 100 dead, raising fears of more violence that will further push the country into chaos.
'India can certainly be counted on to ensure that Al Qaeda's influence doesn't grow to the point that it carves out sanctuaries.' 'The nations where Al Qaeda has built a strong presence have either suffered complete breakdowns in stability, sponsored militancy, or been failing States. None of this, of course, applies to India.'
Al-Qaeda prepared the ground for the announcement earlier Thursday in an online message.
Al Qaeda, which has announced the creation of a separate wing for India, wants to portray Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an enemy of Islam and as such India should take its threat "very seriously", a well-known American counter-terror expert said on Friday even as the United States tried to downplay the terrorist outfit's capabilities.
'It is only when Beijing sees a country with an infirm political will such as India that it acts up as the PLA has done in eastern Ladakh.'
The announcement by Al Qaeda that it has formed a branch for operating in India is not an indication of the terrorist outfit gaining new capabilities, the United States said on Friday, asserting that it is committed to dismantling the group.
In the video titled 'From France to Bangladesh: The Dust Will Never Settle Down', AQIS chief Maulana Asim Umar mentioned Prime Minister Modi in the context of what he claims to be a war against Muslims.
David Coleman Headley pens down his life as a terrorist and his turn towards extremism in his new memoir.
The US move comes nearly year and half after Hamza was officially announced by al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri as an official member of the group.
Umer Ahmed, a member of the Al Qaeda-backed Al Nusra, was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria.
The United Sates will continue its fight against the Taliban while seeking a political solution to the Afghan imbroglio, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday even as he rejected Pakistan's concerns on American drone strikes.
A madrassa teacher from Bengaluru has been arrested by Delhi Police for suspected links with Al Qaeda, making it the fourth arrest in its ongoing operation against the terror outfit.
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