The United States has issued an advisory cautioning against travel to the immediate vicinity of the India-Pakistan border and the Line of Control due to terrorism and the potential for armed conflict and to the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
At least 12 persons, including four children, were killed and 30 injured as two explosive-laden vehicles rammed into the boundary wall of the main cantonment in Bannu in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday while the army personnel neutralised at least six terrorists.
The ATS, in a brief note, said the four accused, who were arrested from the airport, were Sri Lankan citizens and terrorists of the Islamic State.
The Sri Lanka police on Wednesday said a senior deputy inspector general will head a team appointed to investigate four of its citizens arrested in Gujarat when on an alleged mission to carry out terror activities in India at the behest of the banned Islamic State.
Managing the senior generals has proven to be quite a headache for General Asim Munir, even as he and his team of loyal henchmen labour hard to dispel the sense of unhappiness among the public about the army's overbearing presence and interference in matters 'civilian', notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
After the US occupation of Iraq, Fallujah became the launching pad of terrorist strikes in the rest of Iraq. Only after the US ruthlessly pacified Fallujah and destroyed the terrorist launching pads there, did it start making progress in its counter-insurgency operations in the rest of the Sunni areas of Iraq. The NATO forces will continue to bleed in Afghanistan and the jihadi virus will continue to spread in Pakistan unless FATA is similarly quelled
The timing of these transfers, while being projected as routine, is significant in both strategic and political terms, asserts Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
A top commander of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Omar Khalid Khorasani and three other top terrorists have been killed in a mysterious blast in eastern Afghanistan's Paktika province, a Pakistani media report said on Monday.
'From what evidence has come up, General Bajwa somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-American.' 'And so, it [the plan to oust me] wasn't imported from there. It was exported from here to there.'
'One of R&AW's greatest achievements is in projecting itself as benign.' 'This work -- done in tandem with the Diaspora and the MEA -- sells a story of India as mostly the victim.'
The two Chechen brothers accused of the Boston Marathon bombings are "twisted, perverted, cowardly knock-off jihadis" who failed to instill fear in the American people, United States Vice President Joe Biden has said.
Defence Secretary Ashton Carter declined to give a certification to the Congress that Pakistan is taking sufficient action against the dreaded Haqqani network.
America is safer today from the 9/11 type of attacks because of the persistent actions taken by the United States against terrorists in the Af-Pak region in the last four years, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said, while warning that al-Qaeda still remains a threat.
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.
The Pakistan government has finally introduced its much awaited reform package in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The Pakistani constitution is not fully applicable in its lawless tribal areas; these areas are ruled as per the Frontier Crimes Regulation that was introduced by the British centuries ago. On Friday, a major plan of political reforms and development was unveiled in FATA. These measures aim to blunt the appeal for militancy.
Pakistan's border region remains the most dangerous place in the world and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas remains the epicentre of the world's worst of global jihad, a top Pentagon official has said.
Dismissing as "untenable" India linking resumption of talks with action against the Mumbai attack perpetrators, Pakistan said on Thursday, that a "true dialogue" does not come with pre-conditions. It also claimed it had evidence of India's involvement in fomenting trouble in south-western Balochistan province.
US State Department's annual 'Country Reports on Terrorism for the year 2009' said the Lashkar, said Pakistan's FATA and northwest continues to be a "safe haven" for Al Qaeda and Afghan insurgents.
Experts believe that despite recent events, elements within the Pakistan army and the Inter Services Intelligence remain attached to the strategy of using the Afghan Taliban for strategic depth against India.One such is David Kilcullen, who has served as senior adviser for counterinsurgency to former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Commander of the Central Command General David Petraeus, and continues to be called on for advice by the US military brass.
The decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan's Paktika and Khost provinces, thereby allowing militants to escape or seek reinforcement from the other side of the Pakistan border clearly exposes the US intentions, says a security expert.
Maulana Fazlullah of the Taliban in Swat was referred to as 'FM Mullah' because of his effective use of the radio 'to preach to the local people about Shariah.'
The new video comes even as the world condemned the Taliban for beheading two Sikhs in the same area a few days back.
Even as 15-year-old diesel taxis have been phased out in Kolkata and supply of new Ambassador cars as replacement tardy, the West Bengal government has refused to allow Maruti Omnis as cabs on grounds of safety, a claim disputed by the car maker.
An acute equipment shortage and an army that has only been trained to fight against India has left the Pakistani army highly ineffectual in its counter-insurgency efforts against the Taliban, said South Asia expert Stephen Cohen.
B Raman on the situation in Pakistan after the death of Baitullah.
'Terrorists have targeted US diplomats and diplomatic facilities in the past, and information suggests they continue to do so'
"Movement of Pak troops has been factored in India's planning. We are keeping all options -- diplomatic, economic and, as last resort, fighting option -- open," the army chief told media persons. "There is no need for any kind of hysteria; there is no cause for concern for us," Gen Kapoor added.
Security expert B Raman writes on the alarming rise of Taliban in Pakistan.
'Whatever comes in the minds of the Pakistani generals and Pakistan military, they just go for it.' 'They do not care about the consequences for their country or the consequences to the people of Pakistan.'
'Terror is a legitimate threat. It is a threat that comes from Al-Qaeda and those organisations that have morphed off of Al-Qaeda, but there are other interests we have beyond merely -- for example, the situation in the Middle East is not a global war on terror. But it matters to us mightily whether or not we end up with an accommodation between the Israelis and the Palestinians,' he said.
'The citizen jihadis see no television, Internet and video players which they regard as evil. They are being influenced by what they hear on the hundreds of FM radio stations operating in the tribal areas.'
Defence Secretary Mattis said he cannot certify that Islamabad has taken 'sufficient actions' against the dreaded Haqqani terror network.
It is raising 'special militant groups' drawn from Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami, al-Badr and tribals of North West Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
In an exclusive interview given to ANI in Geneva, Daud said that the formation of a government in exile is possible and remained positive that there is no doubt about it.
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.
India must watch for signs after Peshawar that Pakistan is waking up to the dangers of Islamism, muses Ajai Shukla
In view of the volatile situation, the Centre rushed 1,100 personnel of anti-riot Rapid Action Force.
IS, especially active in northern Sindh and Balochistan, was also behind the abduction and killing of two Chinese nationals last year.
IS-Khorasan was sanctioned for its links with Al Qaeda and involvement in several deadly attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan that killed over 150 people.
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