Over two months after the killing of its leader Osama bin Laden, United States' counter-terrorism officials believe that terror outfit Al Qaeda is on the brink of collapse. "US counter-terrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed Al-Qaeda to the brink of collapse," The Washington Post reported.
Ilyas Kashmiri, the head of Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami and Al Qaeda's 313 Brigade, is reportedly alive in spite of being declared killed in an American drone strike on June 3 in South Waziristan.The 'death' of Kashmiri was a source of relief for the United States, Pakistan, India and many other nations across the world. But security officials of the United States and Pakistan have failed to confirm reports of Kashmiri's death and he is reportedly still active.
US drones targetting terrorist camps in Pakistan's tribal belt have fallen silent for the last one month, since the Mohmand incident in which NATO strikes on two checkposts killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. But the pause is likely to be temporary, reports Amir Mir
The killing of Ilyas Kashmiri, the leader of Al Qaeda's dreaded 313 brigade, in a US drone strike on Pakistan's border has come as a shot in the arm of security agencies in India who had been grappling with the rising clout of the terrorist amongst the cadre, especially in Kerala. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Terrorist David Headley was ready to double cross his comrades-in-arms after his 2009 arrest and had prepared to setup dreaded Al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri to be targeted in a United States drone strike.
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud received splinter injuries to his head and back in an American missile strike in Pakistan's lawless Waziristan tribal region that killed at least 15 militants, according to intelligence officials.Mehsud, who became the Tehrik-e-Taliban chief after the killing of his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud in a drone attack in August last year, was injured in Thursday's United States' missile strike at Basalkot in Shaktoi area.
The pre-dawn missile strike was carried out near Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency that is described as a stronghold of Taliban and Al Qaeda elements.
A step away from nuclear weapons being used in conflicts, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Following the death of Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in an American drone strike, an interesting question has cropped up -- Will Islamabad offer the promised bounty money of Rs 50 million to the Central Intelligence Agency for killing Pakistan's top militant?The United States government had also announced a $ 5 million bounty on Mehsud. The Pakistan government had announced a reward for the capture, dead or alive, of Baitullah.
Congressman Gary Ackerman, who chairs the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, also warned that US military and economic aid could influence government policies but cannot change ground realities.
Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who was reportedly killed in a United States drone strike in January, has vowed to attack the US in a new video dated early April."The time is very near when our fidayeen will attack the American states in the major cities," SITE quoted the Taliban leader as saying.Mehsud was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan in January. Pakistani intel officials and the US administration have never confirmed his death.
While continuing the drone strikes to keep the jihadi top guns running for cover, the US should also look for other Abbottabads strewn across Pakistan, says B Raman
The New York police has said it is on "alert" after the killing of al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in a US drone strike, amid possibility of attacks to avenge his death.
'First they claimed the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone strike followed by Qari Hussain's killing. Such news has become a daily affair and no one believes such reports.'
American drones carried out one of their deadliest strikes in Pakistan's troubled northwest firing 18 missiles to hit multiple Taliban targets, including terrorist training camps, hideouts and vehicles killing 15 militants.
The opposition lawmakers said they would discuss a 10-point agenda during their "session" outside parliament, including Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan's "attitude", a power tariff hike, inflation and the law and order situation in the financial hub of Karachi.
Even as the Pakistani political and military leadership has reacted strongly to the proposed US drone strikes inside the country, US President Barack Obama has warned that America would launch missile attacks inside Pakistan if it gets actionable intelligence about the presence of top Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in a particular area.
The drone fired two missiles at Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's base at Khadezai village in a remote mountainous area of Aurakzai tribal agency, witnesses said. Local residents and witnesses told TV channels that at least 12 militants were killed and more than 15 others injured in the strike.
An aide to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud, Maulana Noor Saeed, has rubbished reports of him being killed by a United States drone strike last Wednesday, and said that he is alive, but ill.
Apparently frustrated over Pakistan military's inaction against the dreaded Haqqani network, the United States has unleashed a wave of drone attacks killing dozens of militants in North Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, this month.
Pakistan was earlier reluctant to confirm Mullah Mansour's killing. On Tuesday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said that the body recovered on Pakistani soil, near the Afghan border, was charred beyond recognition.
A noted Pakistani journalist, Rahimullah Yusufzai, who had interviewed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden twice in 1998, has said that he believes that the world's most wanted man is alive.Yusufzai, who described Laden as a 'shy and polite' man, said the 9/11 mastermind is alive despite several claims that he has succumbed to injuries sustained during United States' drone strikes.Yusufzai, 56, pointed out that there is no evidence to prove that Laden is dead.
Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has admitted that he allowed the United States to carry out drone surveillance inside the country when he was in power, but had not permitted them to launch the controversial missile strikes to take out militants.
The Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for the 'attack' in Binghamton, New York, where a gunman went on a shooting spree at the American Civic Centre on Friday, killing 13 people before turning the gun on himself.Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud told Reuters from an undisclosed location, "I accept responsibility. They are my men who attacked New York." The 'attack' was in response to US drone strikes in Pakistan.
Warning that another 26/11 type attack could result in an Indo-Pak war, a former diplomat has highlighted the need for the United States to target the hideouts of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba in drone strikes in view of Pakistan's reluctance to act aggressively against the terror outfit.
A massive drone strike on the world's largest crude-processing facility operated by Saudi Arabia's Aramco has driven oil prices to their highest level in nearly four months. The attack has knocked out over half of Saudi Arabia's production as it cut 5.7 million barrels per day or over 5 per cent of the world's supply.
The Indian Navy said warships and aircraft were deployed to establish presence, provide a sense of reassurance to the Indian merchant men
A young suicide attacker targeted the check post in Khyber region, manned by personnel from tribal militia Khasadar force, at around the time of 'iftar' -- the meal for breaking the daily fast during the holy month of Ramzan.
A United States drone targetted a house in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan tribal region, killing at least four terrorists and injuring two others.
A United States drone targeted a house in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan tribal region, killing at least four militants and injuring two others.
Despite the killing of Pakistan's enemy number one Baitullah Mehsud in a United States drone strike, Islamabad has a long way to go in fighting terrorism, Pakistan's Information Minister Kamran Zaman Qaira has said."We have a long way to go. Only killing one leader doesn't mean the other miscreants will go away," he said. A senior Pakistani counter-terrorism official told the paper that Pak-Taliban chief's death may give Pakistan an opportunity to exploit the power vacuum.
Israel on Monday unleashed more airstrikes on Gaza and shot down a drone used for the first time by Hamas militants even as international pressure mounted on both to end the week-long conflict that has killed 177 Palestinians.
In all likelihood, the next conventional Chinese attack on India would be preceded by a massive cyber attack designed to cripple Indian networks and interfere with our disaster-relief programmes.
American drones regularly target terrorists in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, President Barack Obama on Tuesday said in a first such acknowledgment by the top US leadership on its highly successful but secretive programme.
Zawahiri served three years as a surgeon in the Egyptian Army, but his journey from an eye surgeon to becoming a most wanted global terrorist started after he met Laden in 1986, and joined Laden as his personal advisor and physician.
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.
'Terrorists who are active in Poonch and Rajouri are not relying on random locals for logistics, guidance etc.' 'They are being supported by a selected few who are being vetted, cleared and directed from across the LoC.'
After the October 7 attack by Iranian-backed Hamas forces on Israel, the United States military has blamed other Iranian-backed proxy groups for near-daily attacks against its forces in Iraq and Syria.
Glimpses of Christmas celebrations amid the war in Ukraine...
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