The Central Investigation Agency-operated Predator drones may strike Laden's hide-out without taking permission beforehand from Islamabad if the US locates him in Pakistan's rugged tribal areas, a source close to the arrangement told the The Washington Times.
He said the JeM handler, who is in his late 20s, was in the tribal area of Pakistan when he communicated around 18 times with the terrorists.
A peeved Pakistan feels that the dozen unarmed RQ7 drones the United States has offered it do not meet its 'strategic requirement' and is hoping for a 'better deal' in the form of missile-capable Shadow 600 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to hit militant hideouts, a media report said in Islamabad on Monday.
At least 30 terrorists were killed on Tuesday when Pakistani fighter jets carried out air strikes on militant hideouts in Shawal valley, a mountainous area in North Waziristan sharing boundary with South Waziristan, and other areas of the restive northwest tribal region.
The incident occurred in the Ghakay area of Bajaur Agency, close to the border with Afghanistan.
The chief of Al Qaeda's global operations, wanted by the United State over a 2009 plot to attack the New York subway system, was killed in a raid in Pakistan's restive tribal region, the country's military said.
At least fifteen people, including three children, were killed and several others injured in two missile strikes carried out by suspected US drones in Pakistan's troubled North and South Waziristan tribal regions on Friday.
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.
Seven persons were killed and over 10 injured in sectarian clashes in Pakistan's northwestern Kurram tribal area, where skirmishes between Shias and Sunnis continued for the second day on Thursday. Security forces used artillery to target trenches occupied by the two groups in two areas in upper Kurram Agency. Both groups are using automatic and heavy weapons like mortars to attack each other's positions.
A report, titled 'Threat to VVIPs, politicians, foreign missions and military installations', said terrorists could carry out suicide attacks disguised as women or as military or police personnel.
The warnings by the intelligence agencies have been circulated by the interior ministry, which said they could be carried out as reprisals as Taliban, al Qaeda and other foreign militant elements, who have suffered badly in ongoing operations by the security forces in the tribal areas. According to official figures, more than 1,500 Taliban cadres have been killed in the army operations carried out in the Bajaur agency and Swat valley.
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Pakistani security forces claimed to have killed 64 Taliban militants in an intensified operation in various parts of the troubled Bajaur tribal region near Afghan border, as the locals continued shifting to safer places. However, independent sources said 11 militants were killed and eight others injured on Sunday in the aerial blitz at Loisam, Rashkai, Tang Khatta and other areas of the violence-hit agency, local daily The News reported on Monday.
At least 13 Pakistani soldiers and 10 tribesmen were killed in an air strike and overnight clashes with NATO and Afghan forces in a tribal region, reports have said.
At least eight people were killed and over 40 others injured on Thursday when a suicide bomber struck a tribal council, which was discussing ways to take on the local Taliban, in Pakistan's restive Bajaur Agency.The jirga or council of the pro-government Salarzai tribe was discussing measures to flush out militants from the area when the attack occurred.Local residents said the number of dead and injured could be much higher and it was difficult to get details.
Infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir is on the rise, with nearly 100 terrorists sneaking into the Valley this year from across the Line of Control taking routes, including those chosen by Pakistani raiders in 1947, to move towards south, which has emerged as the epicentre of militancy.
A powerful car bomb exploded outside a Shiite imambargah at a busy market.
Stating that the Al Qaida was able to establish an unprecedented safe haven along the Pakistan-Afghan border in the past 18 months, the Central Intelligence Agency chief has warned that the situation there presented a clear danger to the two nations, as also to the United States. General Micheal Hayden termed the 2006 peace deal between Pakistan government and the pro-Taliban tribals in North Waziristan as absolutely disastrous.
'If there is a face-off between the army and people, the leadership may lose control of the army.'
Forty per cent of population will have no access to drinking water by 2030 and 21 cities, including New Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, will run out of groundwater by 2020.
Exclusive documents obtained by the Pakistan daily The News and from law enforcement officials tasked with the responsibility of eradicating the 'Daesh' in Balochistan and Sindh revealed that the terror group has also spread its tentacles into tribal dominant Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province as they have been recruiting young Afghans living in refugee camps.
At least four persons, including an alleged Al Qaeda militant, were killed on Saturday when a United States drone struck in the lawless North Waziristan region after a lull in the Central Investigation Agency's spy plane campaign in Pakistan.
The average rate of COVID-19 vaccination in the country has been 10.8 million per week. At that rate, it will take India till December 2024 to complete two billion doses.
'Maoists are enraged that the media is reporting the truth.' 'They want to physically isolate the media and psychologically isolate the villagers who have found the confidence to speak to the press about the real situation.' 'Like terrorism ended in Punjab, Naxalism will end in Chhattisgarh,' the AIIMS doctor-turned IPS officer and SP of Dantewada tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
The new line up has led to surprise and dismay within United States intelligence agencies about the group's ability to rebound from an American-led offensive, The New York Times reported.
Modi uses communalism only during elections. In the last five years, we haven't faced riots. Muslims have had no problems whatsoever in the last five years. Modi is only indulging in the business of communalism to trade communalism for votes. The politics of Gujarat is such that if they don't use communalism, Modi can't return to power.
Govt looks to take cooking gas to tiger reserves, Naxal-hit areas
Addressing a massive public rally to celebrate the signing of the accord on January 27 that is expected to bring lasting peace to the troubled state, Modi said now the time was to work together for peace and development of the North-East.
Universal basic income or social security? Economist Nitin Desai feels we need a blueprint for universal health care and pensions to help the vulnerable section.
ISI chief Faiz Hameed coerced the Taliban to announce an interim government guaranteed to preserve Pakistan's control over the levers of power in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Rules for mining, roads, power and irrigation projects relaxed.
In his latest book 'Playing to the Edge', Michael Hayden, the former CIA director said that Pasha had conceded that some of the powerful spy agency's retired members were engaged in training those involved in the heinous crime but refused to take action.
The roots of the problem lies in the alienation of the tribals. Extreme sensitivity is required to tackle the issues involved. Rough and ready methods of using force may prove counterproductive in the long run, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
This is for the first time in several years a news report has surfaced about the hiding location of the Al-Qaeda chief, who is Osama bin Laden's mentor and successor.
Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is in eastern Iran and not the rugged tribal areas of Pakistan's northwestern frontier where many believe him to be on the run, United States intelligence officials were on Monday quoted as saying.\n\n
'Pakistan security forces launched precise strike on a foreign terrorist training camp in area Dila Khula of South Waziristan Agency, about 25 km northeast of Wana, and successfully knocked it out,' said defence spokesman Shaukat Sultan.
Eight members of an Al Qaeda suicide squad, including their local handler, have been arrested by Pakistani security agencies in past week, officials said.
Rupani also praised Ram for his 'engineering skills' by having a bridge constructed between India and Sri Lanka.
