Armed men have killed three more people working on a polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan, officials said, as the nationwide drive against the crippling disease suffered a third day of bloodshed.
A female health worker and her driver were shot dead in Charsadda, near Peshawar, the main town of northwest Pakistan, police official Wajid Khan told AFP news agency on Wednesday. A second police officer confirmed the incident.
Another worker shot and critically wounded in an earlier attack on the outskirts of Peshawar also died, doctor Ahmad Saqlain of the city's Lady Reading Hospital said.
Pakistan, one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic, launched a UN-backed three-day nationwide vaccination campaign on Monday.On Monday and Tuesday, six female health workers were killed in attacks in the southern port city of Karachi and Peshawar. The youngest was 17-years-old.
Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Islamabad, said the UN has ordered all staff in Pakistan involved in the polio eradication campaign to suspend work and come off the streets.
"More than 200.000 people are said to be involved in this most recent three-day programme, which is part of efforts to immunise more than 30 million children across Pakistan."
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
UN calls for more Afghan women protection
The UN collected information from 22 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces over a 12-month period ending in September to find out how existing laws protecting women were being implemented.
The report, released on Tuesday, said that although prosecutors and courts are increasingly applying the law, there is still a long way ahead before it can adequately protect Afghan women and girls from violence.
The report, released on Tuesday, said that although prosecutors and courts are increasingly applying the law, there is still a long way ahead before it can adequately protect Afghan women and girls from violence.
Pakistan army denies 'abuses' in tribal areas
The UK-based human rights group also criticised the Taliban for a range of rights abuses, including the killing of captured soldiers and innocent civilians.
In the report, entitled The Hands of Cruelty, Amnesty said the military had regularly held people without charges and tortured, or otherwise mistreated them, in custody.
Female polio workers gunned down in Pakistan
The government's immunisation campaign against the crippling disease was suspended in Karachi following the attacks.
Five women were killed and two men wounded in two separate attacks on health workers in Karachi on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera sources.
The team had received telephone calls warning workers they would regret helping the "infidel" campaign against polio, said Gul Naz, a health official who oversees the project in the area where the women were shot.
Senior police officer Shahid Hayat blamed "militants who issued a fatwa against polio vaccination in the past" for the killings.
Kabul and Islamabad agree to probe spy attack
Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to launch a joint investigation into the attempted assassination of the Afghan spy chief last week.
Kabul and Islamabad's announcement on Wednesday comes on the second day of trilateral talks in Ankara, the Turkish capital.
"A joint working group comprising relevant agencies of Afghanistan and Pakistan will address the recent attack on the
National Security Director of Afghanistan," a statement issued by all three nations read.
Leaders of both countries, accompanied by ministers and their army chiefs, met at the Turkish-hosted trilateral summit only days after the head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency was wounded by a suicide bomber in the Afghan capital.
A suicide bomber, posing as a peace messenger, hid explosives hidden inside his underwear for the attack that wounded Asadullah Khalid, head of the National Directorate of Security, last Thursday.
Shortly after the attack, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, who rushed to the newly-appointed spy chief's bedside following the December 6 attempt on Khalid's life, said he knew "for a fact" the bomber came from the Pakistani city Quetta.
Karzai said Kabul would seek "clarification" from Islamabad during the meetings in Turkey.
Kabul and Islamabad's announcement on Wednesday comes on the second day of trilateral talks in Ankara, the Turkish capital.
"A joint working group comprising relevant agencies of Afghanistan and Pakistan will address the recent attack on the
National Security Director of Afghanistan," a statement issued by all three nations read.
Leaders of both countries, accompanied by ministers and their army chiefs, met at the Turkish-hosted trilateral summit only days after the head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency was wounded by a suicide bomber in the Afghan capital.
A suicide bomber, posing as a peace messenger, hid explosives hidden inside his underwear for the attack that wounded Asadullah Khalid, head of the National Directorate of Security, last Thursday.
Shortly after the attack, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, who rushed to the newly-appointed spy chief's bedside following the December 6 attempt on Khalid's life, said he knew "for a fact" the bomber came from the Pakistani city Quetta.
Karzai said Kabul would seek "clarification" from Islamabad during the meetings in Turkey.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Pakistan Blast: Market Bomb 'Kills 17' in Khyber
At least 17 people have been killed and more than 70 hurt in a car bomb attack on a market in the Khyber tribal area in north-west Pakistan, officials say.
Women and children were among those killed in the blast at the market in Jamrud, the main town in Khyber.
The explosion took place close to the offices of the tribal administration. The injured have been taken to hospital in the nearby city of Peshawar.
No group has said it carried out the attack as yet.
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| The BBC's Aleem Maqbool: "Those who carry out these attacks are not punished" |
Women and children were among those killed in the blast at the market in Jamrud, the main town in Khyber.
The explosion took place close to the offices of the tribal administration. The injured have been taken to hospital in the nearby city of Peshawar.
No group has said it carried out the attack as yet.
Afghan Landmine Blast Kills Girls in Nangarhar
At least nine young girls have been killed and three more injured in a landmine explosion in eastern Afghanistan, officials say.
The girls were collecting firewood when one of them hit the mine with an axe, a provincial official said. Earlier reports said 10 girls were killed.
It is unclear if the mine was recent or one left over from a previous conflict.
Meanwhile at least one person has been killed in an explosion on the outskirts of the capital, Kabul.
 |
| The BBC's Orla Guerin said: "It's unclear if the Taliban planted the mine of it it dated back to the Soviet occupation" |
The girls were collecting firewood when one of them hit the mine with an axe, a provincial official said. Earlier reports said 10 girls were killed.
It is unclear if the mine was recent or one left over from a previous conflict.
Meanwhile at least one person has been killed in an explosion on the outskirts of the capital, Kabul.
Bangladesh Opposition Protests Turn Violent
Opposition protesters, fearing election rigging, demand restoration of caretaker government before polls.
Explosions and clashes have marked an opposition protest in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, where demonstrators are calling for an election-time caretaker administration to be restored.
Schools and businesses were closed in Dhaka and other major cities on Thursday, during an eight-hour general strike.
Nationwide transportation was largely disrupted during the second opposition strike this week.
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| In recent days, the opposition has stepped up a campaign of strikes to press its demands [Reuters] |
Explosions and clashes have marked an opposition protest in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, where demonstrators are calling for an election-time caretaker administration to be restored.
Schools and businesses were closed in Dhaka and other major cities on Thursday, during an eight-hour general strike.
Nationwide transportation was largely disrupted during the second opposition strike this week.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Karzai Sees Pakistan Link in Spy Chief Attack
Pakistan wants evidence to be shared with it after Afghan president says bid on spy chief's life originated in Quetta.
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has said an assassination attempt against Afghanistan's spy chief "came from Pakistan".
Speaking in the Afghan capital on Saturday, Karzai said though the Taliban claimed responsibility for Thursday's attempt on the life os Asadullah Khalid, head of the National Directorate of Security, the attack originated in Quetta.
"Of course we will be seeking clarification from Pakistan because we know this man who came in the name of a guest to meet Asadullah Khalid came from Pakistan. We know that for a fact," he said.
 |
| Khalid's appointment to head of the nation's spy agency came amid allegations of tortue [Al Jazeera] |
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has said an assassination attempt against Afghanistan's spy chief "came from Pakistan".
Speaking in the Afghan capital on Saturday, Karzai said though the Taliban claimed responsibility for Thursday's attempt on the life os Asadullah Khalid, head of the National Directorate of Security, the attack originated in Quetta.
"Of course we will be seeking clarification from Pakistan because we know this man who came in the name of a guest to meet Asadullah Khalid came from Pakistan. We know that for a fact," he said.
Two Officials Assassinated in Afghanistan
Gunmen shoot dead women's affairs official in Laghman, while Nimroz province police chief dies in roadside bombing.
An Afghan woman's affairs official has been assassinated in Laghman province, just months after her predecessor was blown up by a bomb, while a police chief was killed in a roadside bombing in Herat province.
Najia Siddiqi, the acting director of women's affairs department in the eastern province of Laghman, was shot dead by two unidentified men while commuting in a motormen rickshaw on Monday.
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| Najia Siddiqi was assassinated just months after her predecessor was blown up by a bomb [AFP] |
An Afghan woman's affairs official has been assassinated in Laghman province, just months after her predecessor was blown up by a bomb, while a police chief was killed in a roadside bombing in Herat province.
Najia Siddiqi, the acting director of women's affairs department in the eastern province of Laghman, was shot dead by two unidentified men while commuting in a motormen rickshaw on Monday.
'Militants' threaten Pakistan church school for Malala support
Authorities in Pakistan have held three people over a threat to bomb a church school in Islamabad unless it paid them $51,000 (£38,000), officials say.
A letter sent to the school, apparently by a little-known militant group, demanded cash for not bombing it.
Four dead in Pakistan after Peshawar airport shoot-out
The clash came a day after an attack on the city's airport, in which four civilians and five militants died.
Officials say five insurgents hid in a house outside the city following the airport attack.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Nepal Girls in Mass Hindu Kanya Puja Prayer Ceremony
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| Organizers say that the aim of the ceremony was to bring about social revolution by ensuring a more inclusive society. |
India Vote Paves Way For Foreign Supermarkets
Government wins key vote that clears way for overseas firms to enter country's lucrative $450bn retail sector.
Afghan spy chief wounded in Kabul blast
Afghanistan's intelligence chief has been wounded in an assassination attempt in Kabul, the capital.
Asadullah Khalid, who heads the National Directorate of Security (NDS), was badly wounded when a suicide bomber posing as a peace messenget set off explosives at aNDS guest house, police said on Thursday.
The intelligence agency has confirmed the attack.
"The Afghan intelligence chief has survived a cowardly terrorist attack in the city of Kabul," said the NDS in a statement. "The case is under investigation."
Khalid was rushed into surgery but his life was not in danger, said presidency spokesman Aimal Faizi.
President Hamid Karzai visited the hospital where surgeons "assured the president that he is stable and his injury is not life threatening", the spokesman said.
Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from Kabul, said that the Taliban are claiming to have penetrated Khalid's security.
"He was at one of their [the NDS] guest houses at Kabul this afternoon when there was an explosion that left him injured and needing hospital treatment, needing a blood transfusion," said Smith.
There were few details on the nature of the attack. Witnesses heard an explosion. Police said Khalid was wounded by a grenade, but unconfirmed reports by senior government officials said it had been a suicide attack.
Neither was his condition immediately clear, and there was no immediate word on what had happened to the attacker.
Asadullah Khalid, who heads the National Directorate of Security (NDS), was badly wounded when a suicide bomber posing as a peace messenget set off explosives at aNDS guest house, police said on Thursday.
The intelligence agency has confirmed the attack.
"The Afghan intelligence chief has survived a cowardly terrorist attack in the city of Kabul," said the NDS in a statement. "The case is under investigation."
Khalid was rushed into surgery but his life was not in danger, said presidency spokesman Aimal Faizi.
President Hamid Karzai visited the hospital where surgeons "assured the president that he is stable and his injury is not life threatening", the spokesman said.
Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from Kabul, said that the Taliban are claiming to have penetrated Khalid's security.
"He was at one of their [the NDS] guest houses at Kabul this afternoon when there was an explosion that left him injured and needing hospital treatment, needing a blood transfusion," said Smith.
There were few details on the nature of the attack. Witnesses heard an explosion. Police said Khalid was wounded by a grenade, but unconfirmed reports by senior government officials said it had been a suicide attack.
Neither was his condition immediately clear, and there was no immediate word on what had happened to the attacker.
Pakistan Deaths in 'US Drone Strike'
At least three suspected Taliban fighters killed in a missle attack on a village in the North Waziristan tribal area.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Tehran claims capture of US spy drone in Iranian airspace
Tehran has claimed it captured an American spy drone after the aircraft entered its aispace, Iran's Press TV reports. The US Navy and the White House denied the claim, saying that none of Washington's drones in the Gulf region were lost.
In response to a journalist's question about the allegations, White House spokesman Jay Carney said, "We have no evidence that the Iranian claims you cite are true."
"All our active unmanned aerial vehicles working here have been accounted for," US 5th Fleet spokesperson Commander Jason Salata said earlier.
In response to a journalist's question about the allegations, White House spokesman Jay Carney said, "We have no evidence that the Iranian claims you cite are true."
"All our active unmanned aerial vehicles working here have been accounted for," US 5th Fleet spokesperson Commander Jason Salata said earlier.
Violence flares in Bangladesh strike
Violence has flared in Bangladesh as the country's largest Islamist party enforces a general strike to demand the release of its leaders from prison.
One protester was killed last night in the northern town of Chirirbandar in protests ahead of Tuesday's shutdown.
A special court is trying senior leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami for allegedly carrying out atrocities during the 1971 independence war.
The party says the charges are politically motivated.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Escalation
Links between violent sectarian groups and the Pakistani Taliban are growing
India hangs sole surviving Mumbai attacks gunman
The sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, which claimed the lives of 166 people, was executed at a jail in India on Wednesday. Pakistan-born Mohammed Kasab was hanged after his pleas for mercy were rejected last month.
Garment factory fire kills scores in Bangladesh
At least 112 workers of a garment factory near the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka died on Sunday when a blaze spread through their building. A separate fire broke out in a garment manufacturer outside Dhaka on Monday.
Pakistani Taliban promise more blasts
Just hours after a roadside bomb killed at least seven people near a Shia procession in Pakistan, the Taliban have claimed responsibility and vowed that more attacks will come.
Security forces were on high alert over fears of large-scale attacks on the minority sect across the country after an attack occurred on Saturday in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan's northwest.
The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a telephone call to AFP news agency.
"We carried out the attack against the Shia community," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location after the explosion.
He said the group had dispatched more than 20 suicide bombers across the country for attacks against the minority community.
"We have 20-25 fidayeen [suicide bombers] in the country to launch bomb blasts and suicide attacks," Ehsan said.
"The government can make whatever security arrangements it wants but it cannot stop our attacks."
The area is a stronghold of al-Qaeda-linked extreme Sunni groups who regard Shias as non-Muslims and have stepped up sectarian attacks in a bid to destabilise Pakistan.
The bomb on Saturday morning was planted in a dustbin, the blast was powerful and heard several kilometres away," said police official Siddiq Khan said.
City police chief Khalid Suhail said the dead were all children aged between six and 11 years.
"They were young boys."
At least 18 people were wounded, including two police officials, he said adding that five of them were in serious condition.
The 10kg remote controlled device carrying ball bearings was planted on the route of a religious procession of the minority Shia community, police officer Ghulam Ahmed told the AFP news agency.
Security forces were on high alert over fears of large-scale attacks on the minority sect across the country after an attack occurred on Saturday in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan's northwest.
The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a telephone call to AFP news agency.
| "The government can make whatever security arrangements it wants but it cannot stop our attacks" - Ehsanullah Ehsan, Pakistan Taliban spokesman |
"We carried out the attack against the Shia community," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location after the explosion.
He said the group had dispatched more than 20 suicide bombers across the country for attacks against the minority community.
"We have 20-25 fidayeen [suicide bombers] in the country to launch bomb blasts and suicide attacks," Ehsan said.
"The government can make whatever security arrangements it wants but it cannot stop our attacks."
The area is a stronghold of al-Qaeda-linked extreme Sunni groups who regard Shias as non-Muslims and have stepped up sectarian attacks in a bid to destabilise Pakistan.
The bomb on Saturday morning was planted in a dustbin, the blast was powerful and heard several kilometres away," said police official Siddiq Khan said.
City police chief Khalid Suhail said the dead were all children aged between six and 11 years.
"They were young boys."
At least 18 people were wounded, including two police officials, he said adding that five of them were in serious condition.
The 10kg remote controlled device carrying ball bearings was planted on the route of a religious procession of the minority Shia community, police officer Ghulam Ahmed told the AFP news agency.
Taliban attack NATO base in Afghanistan
The Taliban have launched a major suicide attack against a NATO base at an Afghan city airport, killing six people, including three Afghan soldiers, and wounding four civilians, officials said.
The nine Taliban suicide bombers who entered the airport in Jalalabad, near the eastern border with Pakistan early on Sunday, were killed in a gunbattle that lasted for at least two hours.
Along with the attackers, three members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and three civilians were killed in the Nangarhar province attack.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed to Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith in Kabul that "multiple explosions" had occurred outside the Jalalabad airbase, and that "at least three large explosions were heard".
"Two of the attackers drove explosive-laden vehicles at a gate, detonating those vehicles, trying to make a hole for the remaining seven Taliban fighters all wearing suicide vests, to try to penetrate further into the air base," Smith said.
A spokesperson for ISAF told Al Jazeera that "none of the attackers succeeded breaching the perimetre".
The attackers reportedly used suicide car bombs, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms fire in their assault.
"There were 14 Afghan security forces injured in this assault, and an undisclosed number of NATO forces injured," according to our correspondent. Another four Afghan civilians were also wounded in the attack.
'Invading forces'
The airport complex has multiple layers of security, with the NATO base set well back from the first entrance, which an Afghan official said had been breached.
An Afghan security official told the AFP he had seen five dead men in Afghan army uniform, but it was unclear whether they were soldiers or Taliban attackers.
The Taliban said their suicide bombers had entered the airport, and an Afghan government official confirmed that clashes had taken place within the airport complex.
"First a fedayee [suicide bomber] mujahid... detonated a car bomb causing the enemy heavy casualties and losses and removed all the barriers," the Taliban said on their website.
"After the attack other fedayee mujahids entered the base... and started attacking the invading forces in the base."
The Taliban have waged an 11-year uprising against the Afghan government, which is backed by 100,000 NATO troops, since being overthrown in a US-led invasion for harbouring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The airport has come under attack on two previous occasions this year.
On February 27, six civilians, an Afghan soldier and two local guards were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on the military base, but NATO troops escaped unhurt.
The airport also came under attack on April 15, when the Taliban launched their spring offensive with a series of commando-style assaults across Afghanistan.
| "After the attack other [suicide bombers] entered the base... and started attacking the invading forces in the base" - Taliban |
The nine Taliban suicide bombers who entered the airport in Jalalabad, near the eastern border with Pakistan early on Sunday, were killed in a gunbattle that lasted for at least two hours.
Along with the attackers, three members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and three civilians were killed in the Nangarhar province attack.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed to Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith in Kabul that "multiple explosions" had occurred outside the Jalalabad airbase, and that "at least three large explosions were heard".
"Two of the attackers drove explosive-laden vehicles at a gate, detonating those vehicles, trying to make a hole for the remaining seven Taliban fighters all wearing suicide vests, to try to penetrate further into the air base," Smith said.
A spokesperson for ISAF told Al Jazeera that "none of the attackers succeeded breaching the perimetre".
The attackers reportedly used suicide car bombs, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms fire in their assault.
"There were 14 Afghan security forces injured in this assault, and an undisclosed number of NATO forces injured," according to our correspondent. Another four Afghan civilians were also wounded in the attack.
'Invading forces'
The airport complex has multiple layers of security, with the NATO base set well back from the first entrance, which an Afghan official said had been breached.
 |
| From the perspective of one neighbourhood in Herat |
An Afghan security official told the AFP he had seen five dead men in Afghan army uniform, but it was unclear whether they were soldiers or Taliban attackers.
The Taliban said their suicide bombers had entered the airport, and an Afghan government official confirmed that clashes had taken place within the airport complex.
"First a fedayee [suicide bomber] mujahid... detonated a car bomb causing the enemy heavy casualties and losses and removed all the barriers," the Taliban said on their website.
"After the attack other fedayee mujahids entered the base... and started attacking the invading forces in the base."
The Taliban have waged an 11-year uprising against the Afghan government, which is backed by 100,000 NATO troops, since being overthrown in a US-led invasion for harbouring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The airport has come under attack on two previous occasions this year.
On February 27, six civilians, an Afghan soldier and two local guards were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on the military base, but NATO troops escaped unhurt.
The airport also came under attack on April 15, when the Taliban launched their spring offensive with a series of commando-style assaults across Afghanistan.
Deaths in blast as Pakistan Shia mark Ashoura
A bomb attack on a Shia Muslim procession has killed five people and wounded scores more in northwest Pakistan as the group marked Ashoura, a day of religious significance for Shia and some Sunni Muslims.
The bomb exploded on Sunday in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where another blast on Saturday killed eight people near a Shia Muslim procession.
"Five people were killed and 83 injured in the bomb blast," Shafeerulla Khan, a senior government official in regional capital Peshawar told AFP news agency.
Khan said preliminary investigations indicated the device was planted inside a shop but police were probing whether a suicide bomber was involved.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban said the armed group claimed responsibility for the bombing and threatened more attacks.
"It was a suicide attack and we claim responsibility for it," Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
He repeated his threat made on Saturday that the Taliban had dispatched more suicide bombers across the country for attacks against the minority community.
The group claimed Saturday's bombing, and a suicide attack that killed 23 people on Thursday at a Shia procession in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Anwar Khan Akbar, a police official confirmed the death toll and said the target of the attack was the Ashoura procession.
Khalid Aziz, a doctor in the city's main hospital, told Pakistan's private ARY TV channel some of the injured were in critical condition.
| Foiled attack In a separate development, police in Pakistan's largest city Karachi said they foiled a major terrorist attack. They said they killed a Taliban member in a gun battle and recovered a 100kg bomb planted in a car. Police arrested another suspected Taliban member and also found two suicide vests, two AK-47 assault rifles and two pistols in the car. "Police intercepted the car and killed a militant in an exchange of gunfire," Aslam Khan, a senior police official, told AFP, saying that the suspects planned to use the car to target an Ashoura procession. In December 2009, a suicide bomber killed 43 people in Karachi at a Shia procession to mark Ashoura. Pakistan has deployed tens of thousands of police and paramilitary forces to try to avert sectarian clashes or attacks on Ashoura marches. While both Shia and some Sunni Muslims mark the day of Ashoura, it is a day of commemoration for Shia Muslims who mourn the killing of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein. Authorities have ordered heightened security, with services for mobile phones, which are often used to trigger bombs, suspended in major cities. More than 300 Shia Pakistani's have been killed this year alone in sectarian related conflict, according to local Pakistani media. |
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