Tag Archives: pakistan

U.S. not lined up to defeat al Qaeda, top official warns

The nation’s chief counterterrorism official says despite a "seriously diminished" threat to the homeland, the U.S. government is still not properly organized to support the "team" effort needed to defeat al Qaeda. Mike Leiter, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said the government has made vast improvements since the terrorist attacks of Sept

Pro-Taliban cleric pulls out of peace deal

Pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Mohammad has announced he has pulled out of a peace deal in the violence-plagued Swat Valley, saying the government is not serious about implementing Islamic law, or sharia, in the region. Mohammad brokered the cease-fire in late February between the Pakistani government and his son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah, who commands the Taliban in Swat Valley. With the deal, the area would come under sharia law, which — under the Taliban’s strict interpretation — would prevent women from even being seen in public without their husbands or fathers

Binghamton victims died seeking better lives, relatives say

Layla Khalil escaped the bombs that rocked Iraq during three years of insurgent and sectarian warfare, only to be gunned down while trying to learn English in her adopted hometown, family and friends said Sunday. Khalil, 57, was buried Sunday afternoon, two days after she and 12 others were shot to death Friday at the American Civic Association, an immigrant service center in Binghamton.

At least 30 die in Pakistan violence

At least 30 people in Pakistan lost their lives Saturday in two separate suicide attacks and a suspected U.S. missile strike, according to local security officials. About 12 of them died when security forces fired on a truck packed with explosives approaching a checkpoint in the tribal region of North Waziristan, a local military official told CNN