Vowing to take revenge over the killing of Burmese Muslims after they refused to convert to Buddhism, the Tehrik-e-Taliban has warned the Pakistan government to close down the Burmese embassy in Islamabad.
The bold abduction was carried out when the army and paramilitary forces had suspended operations to break the siege to rescue the trapped personnel, local police officials and TV channels reported. Taliban militants have overrun most of the Swat Valley, called the Switzerland of Pakistan and once the haunt of tourists and rich and this has triggered a massive exodus of residents.
At least eight soldiers and 25 militants were killed on Tuesday in a skirmish that began after scores of Taliban fighters attacked a military post in the restive Kurram tribal region of northwest Pakistan, which has witnessed fierce clashes in recent days.
A Pakistani military helicopter carrying 11 foreigners crashed in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir on Friday, killing ambassadors of the Philippines and Norway and at least five others as the Taliban claimed responsibility for the downing of the chopper and said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was the target.
Pakistani Taliban's fugitive leader Maulvi Faqir Mohammad has said that he is holding peace talks with the government and a deal could be signed by the two sides "very soon", a claim rejected by local authorities and another militant commander.
Asim said 53 injured were currently being treated while seven had been admitted to the intensive care unit.
Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan "cursed" the government in a rally, insisting that its alliance with the United States was the main reason why his country was facing homegrown Taliban insurgency.
Vowing to redouble its efforts to help Afghanistan as a response to the bombing of its embassy in Kabul, India has attacked Pakistan for trying to strike a deal with the local Taliban, saying such bargains "were undermining efforts to defeat terrorists in the war-ravaged country."
The Pakistan Army on Sunday launched a fresh drive against pro-Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat region amidst indications that the security forces would adopt a tougher approach against the ultras in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Islamabad on Friday on a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Pakistan's leadership to boost the reconciliation process with the Taliban in the war-ravaged country.
Fifteen hours after brazenly storming into Pakistan navy's key Mehran airbase in the heart of the port city of Karachi, security forces were finally able to topple a group of heavily-armed Taliban militants after they destroyed two US-made surveillance aircraft and killing 13 security personnel.
On January 20, Taliban men armed with Kalashnikovs and suicide vests attacked the landmark Intercontinental Hotel and killed around 25 people, going from room to room searching for foreigners during the more than 12-hour ordeal.
The world today sees them (Pakistan) as the epicentre of terrorism, Jaishankar said.
During a secret meeting held at Asad Khel village in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud allocated Rs 25 million for attacks targeting the PAF base in Lahore and offices of the ISI, Military Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and Counter-Terrorism Department.
In a scathing indictment of Pakistan's perfidy in the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan, the former Director of the Afghan National Security Directorate, Amrullah Saleh asserted that since 9/11 the Pakistani military has continued to direct, fund and protect the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani has promised jobs for former Taliban fighters.
Seeking to explain the absence of the terror activities directed against India, in the United State's new Af-Pak strategy, India has said the Barack Obama administration was 'looking at' terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad 'off-camera'.Welcoming the Af-Pak policy unveiled on Tuesday, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said the pressure maintained by the US on the Taliban and the Al Qaeda there is in the interest of India.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani has called the leak of classified United States military documents on the Afghan war as 'irresponsible', and insisted that his nation was fully committed to fighting terror groups.Whistle-blower organisation WikiLeaks has released over 90,000 documents called the 'Afghan War Diaries, 2004-2010', which prove fears that Pakistan is aiding the Taliban to organise networks of militant groups that fight against America.
The Biden administration is quietly pressing Pakistan to cooperate on combating dreaded terrorist groups such as the ISIS-K and Al Qaeda following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, according to a set of leaked documents and diplomatic cables to a prominent US media outlet.
A majority of Pakistanis still consider India as a major threat, view America as an enemy and are far less concerned about the Taliban and the Al Qaeda
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden truck into the headquarters of the Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary force, in the southern port city of Karachi on Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring 14 others. The attacker rammed the truck into the gate of the Pakistan Rangers office in North Nazimabad area of Karachi on Thursday morning.
A group of doctors have successfully removed the bullet lodged near the spine of a 14-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl, who was attacked by the Taliban for speaking out against the banned outfits' atrocities, her uncle said on Wednesday. Ahmed Shah, the uncle of Malala Yousufzai, told reporters in Peshawar that the surgery was conducted late on Tuesday at a military hospital and the bullet had been successfully removed.
Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Tuesday offered to hold talks with the Taliban to usher in peace in the region, saying it would help foster understanding among people with divergent views.
Islamabad and Kabul agree to jointly work for holding an Ulema Conference to address the issue of rising militancy and suicide attacks in the name of religion, reports Tahir Ali
United States carried out the heaviest bombing so far of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt as a swarm of drones fired a volley of 19 hellfire missiles at the den of the fighters of Haqqani network, killing 31 militants, including two Taliban commanders and several foreign fighters.
Afghanistan and the US have criticised Pakistan in the past for allowing Taliban fighters to cross into Pakistan where they are provided safe havens and also receive medical treatment.
So far, almost every positive development in terms of the bilateral ties has been overtaken by innate hostility that is often driven by popular sentiments.
A group of heavily armed Taliban terrorists on Thursday gunned down nine policemen and injured as many in this eastern Pakistani city after storming a building where dozens of security personnel were living.
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.
When External Affairs Minister S M Krishna underscored the folly of making a distinction 'between good Taliban and bad Taliban' at the Afghanistan Conference in London earlier this year, he was completely out of sync with the larger mood at the conference. As a result, Indian diplomacy faced a major setback when Indian concerns were summarily ignored.
It is learnt that the sympathisers of the Taliban who are targeting India are now active.
Interrelations of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday took centre stage at the Jaipur LitFest where panelists discussed the upswing in talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan besides India's ties with its neighbour.
A former top envoy of the country questioned Pakistan's decades-old Kashmir policy.
Unlike Israeli company NSO, whose sale of Pegasus cyber tech grabbed worldwide attention, and other manufacturers of offensive-cyber products, Cellebrite operates in a grey area between security exports and civilian ones.
Virtually putting Pakistan on notice, the United States has said it is looking for concrete action by the government there to destroy the Taliban operating out of its territory in the next two weeks, before determining its next course of action. General David Petraeus, the Commander of US Central Command, has told US officials that the next two weeks are critical to determining whether the Pakistani government will survive, Fox News reported.
Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour, killed in a United States airstrike in Balochistan, was a frequent flyer and used a Pakistani passport for over nine years
The US drone strike that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri has raised questions over Pakistan's possible role in the raid amid reports suggesting that the country's airspace could have been used for carrying out the precision strike on the Al Qaeda chief's safe house in Kabul.
'I do not consider India a military threat. The question is that India has the capability. Capability is what matters. With regard to intention, I think we both have our good intentions. India is a reality, Pakistan is a reality, but Taliban is a threat, an international threat, to our way of life,' The Daily Times quoted Zardari as saying.
'The last thing he would want is new tensions with India.'
In the last year since the Indian embassy in Kabul was bombed on July 7, allegedly by the Sirajuddin Haqqani faction of the Taliban based in Pakistan's North Waziristan province, India has well and truly joined in United States president Barack Obama's 'AfPak strategy' that is aimed at jointly looking at Afghanistan and Pakistan as the expanded theatre of war against the Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
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