Pakistani officials confirmed the development while the US embassy spokesperson refused to comment, saying the information 'appears to be only hearsay', The News daily reported. Some diplomats in Islamabad were aware of the Taliban operation but were not ready to speak on record. One of the hijacked helicopters had already been sold to an unidentified customer in Afghanistan, the report said.
Rafia Qaseem Baig, who joined the police force as a constable seven years ago, will work in BDU after completing her 15-day training along with 31 other male members at Nowshera's School of Explosive Handling, media reports said.
Taliban militants, who had kidnapped a top civil official in the restive Swat valley in North West Frontier Province on Sunday, released him only in exchange for two militants, raising question marks over a peace deal stuck between the militant group and the government. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said the official, Kushal Khan, and his guards had been released in exchange for two militants who were arrested in Peshawar last week.
The ground reality is that the government of Pakistan has no choice but make the not-so-fine distinction to save their people getting killed as collateral damage when they fight the Taliban.
The master plan reveals a far more expansive project involving Chinese penetration into Pakistan's agriculture, industry, telecommunications, surveillance and intelligence networks and even leisure and popular culture.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 10 images.
Acknowledging that his government had underestimated the threat from Taliban, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said the terrorist group was present in "huge amounts of land" in the country extending its reach beyond the tribal belt to larger cities like Peshawar.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, one the seven Pakistani nationals accused of planning and abetting the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was granted bail on Thursday by the anti-terrorism court in the country.
The Pakistan police on Tuesday said it is clueless of the whereabouts of kidnapped Afghan diplomat Abdul Khaliq Farahi.
Pakistan on Friday executed two more prisoners, convicted by anti-terrorism courts.
Twenty-eight people, including a leader of the ruling PPP, a woman councillor and 25 militants, were killed in separate incidents of violence in Pakistan's troubled North West Frontier Province and nearby tribal belt.
Times when the 62-year-old BJP MP from Nawada has triggered a row with his highly-volatile remarks.
Pakistani troops on Sunday stepped up the crackdown on militants in a tribal region near Peshawar as the restive Swat valley bordering Afghanistan witnessed fresh violence that killed four people, including two soldiers who died in a bomb blast.
Under the aegis of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, the ministry has set up a special cell that would monitor movement of the Talibans. There are reports that Talibans are just 25 kilometers away from the international border in Punjab and could move in towards the border.
Amidst Taliban threats, over 230 educational institutions, most of them government-run, in Pakistan's Punjab province have been shut, with authorities asking them to step up security by Sunday or face action.
'What was the need for the investigating officers to tell the journalists about the place where the surviving Lashkar terrorist was being detained and where he is going to be transferred next? Don't they realise that such information would be useful to the Lashkar and the ISI if they want to mount an operation to rescue or eliminate him? What was the need for the journalists to find out such sensitive details and disseminate them in the media?'
Seven terror convicts were hanged on Tuesday in jails across Pakistan, including a junior technician at Pakistan Air Force who was involved in the attack on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
The blast occurred near an Imambargah in the congested Kucha Risaldar area of the walled part of Peshawar.
The decision was taken by the Opposition alliance, the All Parties Democratic Alliance, headed by Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N at a meeting in Peshawar.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to limit Australia's tour, which is under threat due to security concerns, to four venues, an official said on Wednesday.
The mishap occurred when a man was reportedly overrun by a freight train and the driver stopped to recover the body.
Pakistan's envoy to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin, who was kidnapped by militants three months ago, has been freed after secret parleys between the government and local Taliban leaders.
The blast took place during Dhamaal -- a Sufi ritual -- when hundreds of devotees were present inside the premises of the vast mausoleum of the saint.
Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed led Jamat-ud-Dawah has set up various new fronts and established camps all over Pakistan to collect donations and sacrificial animals in the name of helping Kashmiris in India.
An outraged India told Pakistan on Thursday that release of Laskhar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the key conspirators of the Mumbai terror attacks, on bail was unacceptable to it and demanded immediate steps for reversal of the decision.
'We aren't attacking Pakistan, we're attacking terrorism'
The deal was agreed between the government and more than 280 tribal elders and terrorists in North Waziristan last month, The Daily Telegraph reported, quoting a government official in Peshawar.
Pakistani security forces on Thursday launched a crackdown against tribesmen, arresting nine of them in the Khyber Agency, after they failed to trace the country's ambassador to Afghanistan, who is believed to have been kidnapped in the region on Monday.The authorities defended the action, saying the tribesmen were taken into custody under the collective responsibility law as the ambassador had gone missing from a main road in their area.
Hussain said that a blind following of western traditions will lead to a degradation of "our values
'If the bulk of the Pakistan population and the all powerful army are now against radical elements, there is indeed hope that Pakistan's India policy will be more realistic and less ideology driven,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The twin attacks came as former prime minister Nawaz Sharif along with his daughter Maryam returned to the country to face arrest in a corruption case.
Militants have stepped up attacks against security forces in Pakistan, mostly in the troubled tribal regions and parts of the NWFP, in recent months.
Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek- i-Insaf party suffered a major setback after party president and senior politician Javed Hashmi was expelled after he criticised the cricketer-turned-politician's decision to march to the official residence of Premier Nawaz Sharif.
At least five people, including some football players were killed and 11 injured on Sunday in a bomb attack in Pakistan's restive north western tribal region during a match, officials said.
A Pakistani doctor who allegedly helped the US to track down Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has sought a fresh probe into his conviction in a treason case.
The Rajya Sabha on Monday adopted a resolution condemning the bail granted to Mumbai attack mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and asked Pakistan to ensure that no perpetrator of any terrorist activity went unpunished.
India is working with its mission in Pakistan to prepare a strong response against granting of bail to LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
Musharraf's problems keep multiplying, and as elections approach, he finds himself fighting for his political survival. But generals do not let go of power easily. Their instinct is to cling on at all costs.
'While most alarmist predictions about the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons are unlikely to materialise, instability is likely to increase unless Musharraf redirects the Pakistani ship of state.'
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