January 1

Security forces (SFs) killed five suspected militants in the Laddah area of South Waziristan after four paramilitary soldiers were abducted in the area.

Two people were killed and five injured on the 11^th consecutive day of sectarian clashes in the Kurram Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

January 2

At least 27 militants were killed in two days of clashes in South Waziristan. The clashes broke out after pro-Taliban militants abducted four Pakistan soldiers in South Waziristan on January 1, an official said. "Five militants were killed yesterday and 22 overnight," he stated.

At least 11 persons, including seven non-local Taliban militants, were killed and 13 persons injured during the on-going sectarian clashes in the Kurram Agency of FATA. The curfew imposed on November 16, 2007 has reportedly not been relaxed so far, owing to which routine life has been paralysed in the entire Agency. The main Tull and Parachinar highway has been closed for the last 48 days due to which edible items and medicines are not available in Kurram Agency and road links to the various tribal areas are also disconnected, reports stated.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has given another two days to the government to end the military operation in the Swat district of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and pull out all troops from the area, and warned that it will expand its actions from Waziristan to Kohistan and the settled districts if their demand is not met. Maulana Omar, a spokesman for the TTP, said that an earlier deadline for withdrawal of troops had lapsed on December 15, but they did not resume their activities because the entire nation was in mourning following the tragic death of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. "Now we extend the deadline for two days and ask the government to withdraw troops and halt the operation in Swat. Otherwise, we will attack the government everywhere and it will be an all-out war," he warned.

The Election Commission of Pakistan delayed the general elections slated for January 8 until February 18. Chief Election Commissioner, Justice (retd) Qazi Muhammad Farooq, said the elections had been postponed due to the violence and rioting, and also because the month of Muharram was commencing.

President Pervez Musharraf said that investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto would be carried out with the help of the Scotland Yard. He also directly accused Baitullah Mehsud and Maulana Fazlullah of killing her.

Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman and husband of the slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, rejected President Musharraf’s decision to invite Scotland Yard and demanded a UN probe similar to the investigation into the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

January 3

Hundreds of Pakistani families have poured across the border into Afghanistan in recent days as sectarian clashes continued on the 13^th day in the Kurram Agency of the FATA. Six people are reported to have died and 11 inured in the fresh clashes. Afghan officials said about 900 families (most of them Sunnis) have fled across the border in the past two weeks to the Khost and Paktia provinces. While the Khost Governor Arsallah Jamal stated that about 400 to 500 Pakistani families had fled to the province, Abdul Rahman Mangal, the deputy governor in neighbouring Paktia province, said about 480 families had come to the border districts there, including about 20 to 30 Afghan families who were living in Pakistan.

Two suspected terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire with SFs in the Kan-Mehtarzai area of Muslim Bagh, some 160km north of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province.

SFs launched a search operation against militants in the Swat district of the NWFP and arrested more than 70 suspected militants, including local Taliban Commander Ikramuddin.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of the slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and recently appointed chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, is on the hit-list of Islamist radicals, according to the Website of the British newspaper The Sun.

President Pervez Musharraf denied accusations that the military or intelligence services were involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

January 4

Three persons were killed as sectarian violence continued in the Kurram Agency of FATA. The clashes were reported from Jalmai and Meangak areas of Lower Kurram.

January 6

Rival militants attacked offices of a pro-government militant, killing nine and wounding eight of his men. The attackers first stormed the office of Maulana Nazir in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan, and killed three of his supporters and injured four others. The militants, reportedly equipped with rockets and heavy weapons, launched another attack on the office of Nazir’s close associate, Maulana Khanan, in Shakai town, killing six people and injuring five others. A spokesman for Maulana Nazir blamed Baitullah Mehsud’s supporters for the attack and asked all Mehsud tribesmen to leave the Wazir tribe-dominated areas to avoid bloodshed.

January 7

Two civilians employed at a coal mine in the Bolan district of Balochistan were killed and five persons wounded when one of the men stepped on a landmine as they were returning home.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in an explosive-laden vehicle near a military base camp at Kabal in the Swat district of the NWFP, injuring 10 people, including eight soldiers. The suicide bomber was driving a single-cabin pick-up, which exploded at 11.15am in front of the gate of the Frontier Golf Club, a military base camp. The blast destroyed the building of a technical institute and partially damaged the buildings of the Iqra Academy.

January 9-10

At least 50 militants were killed by troops during clashed that erupted when around 250-300 miscreants concentrated and attempted to attack Ladha Fort and check post on the night of January 9 to 10 in the Wanna area of South Waziristan.

January 10

At least 24 people, including 17 policemen, were killed and 80 others injured in a suicide bomb blast outside the Lahore High Court, minutes before the arrival of an anti-government lawyers’ procession. The blast ripped through GPO Chowk in front of the Lahore High Court as the suicide bomber walked up to the about 60 riot police – who had gathered there ahead of a protest by lawyers against President Pervez Musharraf’s government – and blew himself up. About 200 lawyers were inside the High Court at the time of the blast, and others were marching from a nearby district court.

Army troops have been deployed in 22 districts of Punjab to protect people and vital installations during Muharram in view of the security alarm raised by the suicide bombing. The Rangers will protect important installations like airports, railway stations, Pakistan Television and radio offices, Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Governor’s House and civil secretariat. The overall law and order would be the responsibility of police and troops would stand by at designated places and could be called in for assistance in case of an emergency at one-hour notice, said Home Secretary Khusrao Pervaiz Khan. All Muharram processions and meetings in Lahore would be heavily protected, to "deny space to terrorists", he said.

Security forces fighting the Fazlullah-led militants in the Swat district of NWFP suspended military action due to persistent heavy snowfall and rain in the valley. Security forces, during a search operation in the Fatehpur area of Khwazakhela, arrested 12 suspected militants and shifted them to an undisclosed location. Similarly, military officials said four suspected militants were arrested on Ayub Bridge near Kanju.

The TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah, who was accused by President Pervez Musharraf of masterminding the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said that he was not involved in her murder. "Benazir Bhutto’s killing was a part of power politics. We have nothing to do with her and her family members know the killers well," said Sirajuddin, a spokesman for Fazlullah, who called The News from an undisclosed location. Musharraf had blamed Baitullah Mehsud and Maulana Fazlullah for assassinating Benazir in Rawalpindi on December 27. Baitullah had already denied the charge against him but Fazlullah, who was declared dead by some media organisations on January 9 in a military action in the Manja area of Kabal sub-division, appeared to clarify his position. Fazlullah also claimed that many suicide bombers were ready to launch attacks on targeted locations in the country.

January 11

The Pentagon is extremely concerned about al Qaeda operations in Pakistan, said US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen. "We know it is having a significant impact, not just in Afghanistan, but certainly there are concerns about how much they have turned inward inside Pakistan. I am extremely concerned about this," he told a press conference. He, however, added that the US was mindful of Pakistan being a sovereign country, saying, "It is really up to President (Pervez) Musharraf and his advisers in the military to address that problem directly." The State Department official Tom Casey said, "I’m unaware of any proposal from any US official arguing for unilateral military action in Pakistan."

January 13

Two Uzbek militants were killed when a group of them attacked the house of a pro-government tribal elder in South Waziristan. The pre-dawn clash erupted when dozens of miscreants launched an attack on the house of Khan Khannan in South Waziristan district, said local administration official Ayaz Mandokhel. Khannan’s men who were guarding the house, retaliated and killed two Uzbek militants, he said, adding that the other militants escaped after the clash.

Unidentified gunmen killed the brother of TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah’s spokesman Sirajuddin at Imam Dheri in the Swat district. Residents said Bakht Bedar Khan was a leader of the Awami National Party and supported the government’s peace initiative and distanced himself from Sirajuddin’s activities.

January 14

At least 23 militants and seven soldiers were killed in fighting in the Mohmand Agency. Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said, "It was an ambush on a paramilitary convoy." The convoy was reportedly ambushed while traveling from Gath to Ghalanai. Security forces later targeted the Safi sub-division. Tribal sources said no casualties were reported. "Locals also joined the soldiers against the militants, destroying two vehicles," Arshad added. Taliban commander Faqir Hussain was killed in the battle, sources said. The clash also triggered panic in the locals, with residents claiming many were fleeing for safer places.The Taliban spokesman Maulana Omar, however, denied that any militants were killed, claiming that they had killed seven soldiers and taken 17 of them as prisoners. "Our activities will continue till an end to the military operation in Swat and release of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz," he stated.

11 persons, including two children, were killed and more than 50 persons wounded in a bomb blast in the industrial Landhi suburbs of Gul Ahmadpur in Karachi. "The bomb was planted on a motorbike and exploded outside a textile factory in the Landhi district of Karachi," said senior police official Mohammed Javed. Muneer Ahmed Sheikh, an official of the Bomb Disposal Squad, said the explosion had been caused by a homemade time bomb which contained nails and ball bearings.

Maulana Fazlur Rahman and former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao are among the politicians from NWFP who are the likely targets of suicide bombers, sources in intelligence agencies said.

The Interior Ministry has warned security agencies that militants of the LeJ and Taliban are plotting to attack eminent political and religious leaders and religious places in nine cities during Muharram.

January 15

Hundreds of militants captured a paramilitary fort in South Waziristan after killing 22 soldiers and taking several others hostage. 600 to 700 militants reportedly attacked the fort in Sararogha, manned by the South Waziristan Scouts, firing rockets and mortars. 38 paramilitary soldiers and six civilians were in the fort when it came under the assault. The military said that 40 militants were killed in the gun battle.

The paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel claimed that two alleged teenage suicide bombers were killed while a third committed suicide by swallowing poisonous capsules in the Mohmand Agency of the FATA.

The chief, vice chief and finance secretary of the banned Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-alami (HuMA) were sentenced to life imprisonment – based on their alleged confessions – for conspiring to kill President Pervez Musharraf in 2002.

The Interior Ministry said that political leaders face a looming threat of terrorist attack and advised them to comply with its security instructions to avoid unnecessary exposure.

January 16

Four persons, including three children, were killed in a bomb blast near the Chashma Right Bank Canal in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP.

Gerry Ackerman, chairman of the congressional subcommittee that held a hearing on Pakistan, has called for a "fundamental reappraisal of US assistance to Pakistan." He said, "The United States is at a crossroads with Pakistan. It is clear that despite the deaths of many, many Pakistani soldiers and police, the fight against terrorism has not gone the way we would have hoped. It is equally clear that Pakistan is no closer to genuine democracy and arguably a good bit further away. It’s time to change course and build a new and different relationship with Pakistan."

January 17

At least 12 persons were killed and 25 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in an imambargah (congregation hall for Shia rituals) in Peshawar. Police said that the teenage bomber blew himself at the crowded Mirza Qasim Baig Imambargah in the Mohalla Janghi area at around 6.55pm (PST).

Over three dozen paramilitary soldiers are reported to have abandoned a fort in South Waziristan before it was attacked by militants. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulana Umar claimed that about 60 paramilitary soldiers had surrendered without putting up resistance. However, official sources said that the Seplatoi fort in Serwakai sub-division manned by about 40 personnel of the FC was vacated on January 16-night after reports were received that the militants were planning to attack it. The militants took control of the abandoned building, an unnamed official said.

Two major al Qaeda operatives in the FATA have reportedly called upon their followers to intensify the ‘holy war’ against security forces and to seize control of Islamabad.

President Pervez Musharraf said that the nuclear assets have been dispersed and placed under a multi-tiered security safeguard, dismissing reports about threats to country's nuclear programme. He said the National Command Authority was looking after the country's nuclear assets with a Strategic Planning Division fully capable of ensuring the safety of installations.

January 18

Security forces claimed to have killed about 90 militants in two different encounters in the Ladha area of South Waziristan.

Army troops recaptured the Siplatoi fort in South Waziristan, a day after paramilitary soldiers had abandoned it. Army and paramilitary personnel reportedly moved into the area in three helicopters and took over the abandoned Siplatoi fort on the Wana-Jandola road.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Michael V. Hayden said in an interview that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed by al Qaeda and allies of Baitullah Mehsud. Hayden said Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by fighters allied with Baitullah Mehsud, with support from al Qaeda’s terrorist network.

January 19

Troops arrested 50 Islamist militants in an operation in South Waziristan, a day after killing dozens of militants in the area, the military said. Troops also recovered 10 bodies of the militants from the Chaghmalai area in South Waziristan, which witnessed a major clash on January 18 in which an estimated 30 militants were killed, chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.

Security officials in the NWFP said that they had arrested a teenager allegedly involved in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto. The 15 year-old Aitezaz Shah told investigators that he had been part of a five-man squad deployed that day in Rawalpindi. Aitezaz was arrested on January 17 in Dera Ismail Khan with another militant identified as Sher Zaman. The duo have confessed their involvement in the plot to kill Benazir Bhutto, ARY Television quoted Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah as saying.

Pakistan has decided to hand over two al Qaeda suspects to the US on the latter’s demand. The accused, Khan Baba Abdur Rasool and Noor Rab Khan, were arrested in 2005 for having links with al Qaeda.

January 20

Nisar Ahmad Khan, Deputy Director of the Intelligence Bureau in NWFP, was shot dead by unidentified men outside his house in the Charsadda district’s Shabqadar area.

January 21

Even as troops continued targeting militants’ positions in South Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, warned of serious repercussions if the military operations were not stopped. His spokesman Maulana Umar said: "The government wants to enter the Mehsud area by force. But it must take into account the consequences of such a harsh action." He accused the security forces (SFs) of ‘killing innocent people’ and ‘damaging their homes’ and warned that the government would have to "pay a heavy price".

The militants in North Waziristan extended until January 27 a cease-fire that they had announced on December 17, 2007. The truce had earlier been extended until January 20. The militants had stopped their activities on December 17 and security forces had removed some makeshift checkpoints in the area.

The group of suspected Islamist extremists arrested in Barcelona at the weekend was planning suicide attacks on Spanish soil allegedly under orders from al Qaeda in Pakistan. Citing sources close to the investigation, the daily El Periodico de Catalunya said "the terrorist action averted on Saturday ... was decided several months ago by the central al Qaeda network in Pakistan… Those who gave the order are to be found in Pakistan. They were preparing suicide attacks. Those that came here were ready to commit suicide."

January 22

Seven SF personnel and at least 37 militants were killed in clashes in North and South Waziristan, the army said, updating an earlier toll. Five of the soldiers and all of the militants were killed after the latter attacked a military fort at Ladah in South Waziristan, which houses paramilitary troops, and a nearby observation post before dawn, said chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas. In North Waziristan, two SF personnel were killed and 10 others injured when militants fired rockets at a military fort in Razmak. After the attack on the fort, two fighter jets bombed mountainside villages nearby, killing one civilian.

A spokesman for militants in North Waziristan, Ahmadullah Ahmadi, asked the military authorities not to use bases in their area against militants in South Waziristan. "Taliban will withdraw from peace talks if security forces use our soil against us," Ahmadi said.

January 23

A man was killed and another injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a police check-post at the confluence of Khyber Agency and Peshawar.

The army sent reinforcements, for the first time with tanks, to South Waziristan after clashes between security forces and militants intensified in the Mehsud area. Sources said the troops had launched an operation in three areas — Makin, Spinkai Raghzai and Tiarza — inhabited by Mehsud tribesmen.

January 24

40 militants and 10 soldiers were killed and dozens injured as the Pakistan Army, backed by tanks and gunship helicopters, launched a major offensive against the militants in South Waziristan. The Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement that troops had cleared Spinkai Raghzai, Nawazkot and the adjoining area of Tiarza and taken over some strongholds and hideouts of the militants. The troops also arrested 30 militants who were trying to escape during the clashes.

Suspected militants in the Swat district of NWFP shot dead the Matta sub-division naib (deputy) nazim (elected government official) Shakir Khan, his brother and an aide in an ambush near Kalakot. Two people were injured in the attack.

Unidentified militants fled with four weapon-laden army trucks in Dara Adam Khel. Taliban spokesman Maulana Umar claimed responsibility while talking to BBC Urdu from an undisclosed location.

The Interior Ministry has warned the provinces that 13 suicide bombers have entered Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore from the NWFP and may carry out attacks in these cities. The ministry revealed in a letter written to the provinces and security agencies that terrorists have formed a new group by the name of Al-Quds Army and that 13 of its newly trained suicide bombers have entered major cities for subversive activities. The ministry has also warned security agencies and the provinces that two extremists of Maulana Fazlullah’s TNSM have entered Sindh and Balochistan.

January 25

Around 34 militants and two soldiers were killed during a military operation in Darra Adam Khel, a town in the NWFP, located between Peshawar and Kohat, very close to the FATA. Gunship helicopters were used to target militant bunkers in the formerly stable region.

Two soldiers were killed and seven others wounded when militants attacked with rockets an outpost on a hill in the Spinkai Raghzai area of South Waziristan.

January 26

Around 20 militants were killed by the troops during clashes in the Darra Adam Khel and Kohat areas of NWFP. Gunship helicopters pounded suspected Taliban positions in the mountains near Darra Adam Khel and Kohat district. Security officials said the militants had taken position at hilltops overlooking Darra and Kohat and were using long-range rockets to target civilians in Kohat city.

January 27

Security forces took positions on hilltops around the town of Darra Adam Khel and the Friendship Tunnel as 24 militants and five soldiers were killed in clashes. The ISPR said SFs had cleared the area and regained control of the Kohat tunnel and adjoining areas after fierce fighting. The tunnel connects the southern parts of the NWFP with capital Peshawar through the Indus Highway.

For the first time, the militants attacked two check-posts in the so far peaceful Orakzai Agency of the FATA, killing three security force personnel and injuring two others.

The SFs pounded the suspected hideouts of militants allied to Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan. Military authorities said gunship choppers targeted hideouts in Makin, Shabi Khel, Srarogha, Ladha and the adjoining mountainous region. "The troops are now in control of Spinkai Raghzai and Kotkai, which were the strongholds of the Baitullah Mehsud-led fighters," said the authorities.

January 28

The Army fired mortar and artillery shells from military camps in Razmak and Jandola on the militants’ hide-outs in Kaza Panga, Dher Narai, Shaga, Treekh Narai, Wrasta Bazeena and Shaktoi areas in which officials said five militants were killed.

Five civilians, including two women, were killed when artillery shells hit their homes in Kotkai village. Residents of Torwam also reportedly complained that SFs were targeting the civilian population. They claimed that dozens of houses owned by civilians were damaged in the artillery shelling.

Five civilians, including two women, were killed during military shelling in the Aka Khel area of Darra Adam Khel in NWFP.

Amid reports of clandestine talks with the government for durable peace, militants in North Waziristan extended their one-sided cease-fire till February 10. The announcement was made by militants’ spokesman in North Waziristan, Ahmadullah Ahmadi.

Militant ‘commander’ Maulana Faqir Muhammad was named the ‘political face’ of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan for the purpose of holding talks with the government and negotiate a truce.

The Taliban in Afghanistan have distanced themselves from Pakistani militants led by Baitullah Mehsud, saying they don’t support any militant activity in Pakistan. "We do not support any militant activity and operation in Pakistan," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on telephone from an undisclosed location. The spokesman denied media reports that the Taliban had expelled Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. "Baitullah is a Pakistani and we as the Afghan Taliban have nothing to do with his appointment or his expulsion. We did not appoint him and we have not expelled him," he said.

January 28

A missile apparently fired by a pilot-less plane hit a house in a village near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, killing 15 people - 10 suspected militants, two women and three minors. Intelligence sources said those killed also included Arab nationals but their identity was not known. A militant source said that five men "speaking the language of the holy Quran" were among the dead, suggesting that Arab militants were among the victims.

January 29

14 people, including 10 militants, three Pakistan Army soldiers and a civilian, were killed and several others injured in heavy fighting and bombing by fighter aircraft in South Waziristan.

Sources said that fierce clashes continued between the SFs and militants in parts of the Mehsud-populated areas of South Waziristan, including Torwam, Tiarza near Shakai, Ladha, Serwakai, Nawaz Kot and Kotkai. Militants loyal to Baitullah Mehsud reportedly suffered significant losses when fighter aircraft targeted their positions in the Torwam area. Around 10 militants were killed and several others sustained injuries in the bombing.

At least seven militants of the Jundullah group and two police officials, including a Deputy Superintendent, were killed in two encounters in the Landhi and Shah Latif Town areas of Karachi. One of the slain militants was identified as Qasim Toori, a 27-year-old former policeman, who was wanted for a June 2004 attack on the then Karachi Corps Commander in which 11 people were killed. Five people were arrested including a man believed to be from Uzbekistan.

Three Pakistan Army soldiers were killed and four others wounded when militants attacked the troops in the Angamal area near Razmak. The troops returned the fire which led to a heavy shooting, resulting in the killing of three soldiers and injuries to four others. Military officials said several militants were also killed in the gun-battle and artillery shelling from Razmak military camp later, but they were unaware of the exact losses suffered by the militants. They added that 12 militants were subsequently arrested from Tiarza.

Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud said in an interview with Al Jazeera that he wanted to destroy the White House, New York and London. "Very soon, we will be witnessing jihad’s miracles," he said in his first-ever television interview. "Our primary aim is to finish Britain [and] the US, and to crush the pride of the non-Muslims," Baitullah told Admad Zaidan, Al Jazeera bureau chief in Islamabad, at an undisclosed location. Baitullah Mehsud accused President Pervez Musharraf of working for the interests of "the nonbelievers". He said his coalition would fight back and "teach him a lesson". Mehsud said the Taliban coalition was carrying out a "defensive jihad". "The army is bombarding our houses and fighting with us," he said, adding "We have formed this coalition to guarantee the safety of civilians."

January 30

The bodies of 13 soldiers killed by militants during the military’s ongoing operation in Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP have been found, the army said. Three of the dead were army personnel that the militants had captured, along with ammunition and food trucks, near the Kohat Tunnel on January 24. They said militants had abducted the remaining 10 personnel. Three bodies could not be recognised, they added. "They [soldiers] were apparently killed last week but their bodies were found today," a police official told Reuters.

Militants retrieved and buried the bodies of 12 foreigners who had been killed in a missile attack on a residential compound in the Khushali Toorikhel area of North Waziristan on January 28-night. Local people said the identity of the militants killed in the attack remained unknown but according to unconfirmed reports seven of them were Arabs while the other five were central Asians.

An explosion in a house in the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, killed three men who police said were making bombs when the explosives detonated prematurely. The blast occurred in the guestroom of a house located in the Badshah Dak area of Tauheed Colony in Phandu police precincts. "Initial evidence suggests that they were suicide attackers," police officer Farid Shah told AP. Gulbahar Deputy Superintendent of Police Ijaz Khan said the men were likely involved in an earlier attack on music shops in the Afridiabad area. He said police had detained one Ismail, originally from Lakary of Mohmand Agency, who had rented the house. The dead men included Ismail’s brother-in-law Saadullah and a cousin identified as Ali Rehman. The third body could not be identified. An AFP report said the men were 20 to 30 years old. Police seized a hand grenade, 10 kilograms of explosives, a pistol, three mobile phones, a dairy and religious literature from the house.

Two Pakistan Army soldiers were killed and several others sustained serious injuries on when militants from adjacent South Waziristan fired 40-50 rockets on the Razmak Military Camp in North Waziristan. The militants fired these rockets on the military base from their hideouts in Mamu Ghar, Spin Kamar and Khumata in Makin.

January 31

Senior al Qaeda commander Abu Laith Al-Libi has been killed in Pakistan, CNN quoted "a knowledgeable Western official and an unnamed military official" as saying. The 41-year-old Libyan was active in operational planning and training, and according to the US official, "not far below the importance of the top two al Qaeda leaders" – Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri. He was placed on the US military’s most wanted list in 2006, behind Laden, Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

February 1

At least six persons, including five security personnel, were killed and eight others were injured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a security check post at Kajhori near Miranshah of North Waziristan. "It was a suicide attack on a security check post in which three tribal policemen and two paramilitary soldiers [died]," military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. Meanwhile, the local administration sources said that 19 people including nine Frontier Corps soldiers died in the attack. They said a number of Khasadars (tribal policemen) and civilians were also killed. Security forces fired artillery shells at several hilltops after the attack, they added.

February 2

At least six persons, including two civilians, were killed in a gun battle in Mardan after police raided a suspected militant hideout at 5am (PST). Mardan police official said that the gun battle ensued when police raided the house of one Afsar Ali, wanted by police for attacks on music shops, in the Palodehri area. Two policemen and two militants, including Adnan, whose brother Kamran was an aide of Baitullah Mehsud in the district, were killed in the gun battle. Sources said while a woman passing by was killed in the crossfire, a civilian Azam Khan was also killed as militants entered his house. Police seized three Kalashnikovs, eight hand grenades and two suicide vests from the house. Sources also said that the police had raided the area a week ago but the militants, 25 to 40 in number, managed to escape.

February 4

At least 10 people were killed and about 10 others sustained injuries when unidentified assailants carried out an explosion targeting a bus carrying security force personnel near the headquarters of Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi in Punjab Province. The explosion occurred at 7.15am (PST) outside the gate of the army's National Logistics Cell in R.A. Bazar, a high security area as it is located very close to the General Headquarters. The blast completely destroyed the bus, several cars and motorcycles, eyewitnesses said. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

600 suicide bombers are present in Karachi and they are planning a major attack, revealed two militants Qasim Toori and Danish alias Talha during interrogation by security agencies. Most of the suicide bombers are reportedly former students of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid. The militants confessed, "Around 600 Jundullah militants are present in Karachi. They are mentally prepared and trained to commit suicide attacks." They also confessed that they had robbed foreign banks and dispatched the money to their headquarters in Wana in South Waziristan, from where their needs for weapons, explosives and other necessities were being met.

February 5

Political turmoil in Pakistan has not seriously threatened the military’s control of its nuclear weapons "but vulnerabilities exist," US intelligence said in a report. "We judge [that] the ongoing political uncertainty in Pakistan has not seriously threatened the military’s control of the nuclear arsenal, but vulnerabilities exist," said the annual threat assessment, which was delivered to Congress by US intelligence Chief Mike McConnell. The report said, "We judge that the [Pakistan] army’s management of nuclear policy issues — to include physical security — has not been degraded by Pakistan’s political crisis." The report also warned of threats of terrorist attacks against the US, as al Qaeda improves its ability to identify, train and position operatives for such operations. It said an influx of new western recruits to al Qaeda’s safe havens in FATA had been detected since 2006.

February 6

Two persons, identified as Arab Din and Amin Jan, were killed and another, Baz Mohammad, was injured when a bomb exploded at a storehouse of scrap metal in the Shahkas area of Khyber Agency in the FATA.

Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar declared a unilateral cease-fire from South Waziristan to Swat, saying no security forces would be targeted. "We will not attack any security person, be it in Waziristan or in Swat (district)," he said from an undisclosed location. Umar denied the cease-fire was the result of "secret negotiations", claiming the Taliban were responding to a reduction in the military’s attacks on them. "We will not attack the security forces till [our] next announcement," he said, adding, "We see a marked decrease in intensity of attacks on us." However, the military said that operations against militants would continue. "This (Taliban ceasefire) is [a] one-sided (announcement). We received no formal communiqué," military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.

February 7

Three persons were killed and 12 others wounded in a bomb blast at a bus stand in the Dera Murad Jamali town of Balochistan. The Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the blast.

Police arrested two more suspects, Hasnain and Rifaqat, from Rawalpindi for their alleged involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

February 8

The Scotland Yard (SY) team investigating former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination ruled out the possibility of her dying of a gunshot wound and concluded that she died of a head injury. The executive summary of the SY’s Metropolitan Police SO15 Counter Terrorism Command stated, "The only tenable cause for the rapidly fatal head injury in the case is that it occurred as a result of impact due to the effects of the bomb blast." It said Benazir’s only apparent injury was "a major trauma to the right side of the head."

February 9

27 people were killed and over 30 injured in a suicide attack on an election rally at Nakai near Charsadda town in the NWFP. Senior Awami National Party leader Afrasiab Khattak, who was addressing the gathering, escaped unhurt. The Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan said, "I have been told that most probably it was a suicide attack."

February 11

At least 10 people were killed and 13 others sustained injuries when a teenaged suicide bomber blew himself up amidst a gathering of the Awami National Party (ANP) and tribal Lashkar (force) at Mirali in North Waziristan. President of the North Waziristan chapter of the ANP, Haji Anwar Shah, was among the dead.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin was abducted along with his bodyguard and driver in the Jamrud sub-district of Khyber Agency.

Security forces captured Taliban commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah along with five other Taliban militants after a gun-battle in the Gowal Ismailzai village of Qila Saifullah district (near the Afghan border) in Balochistan.

February 11-12

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the abduction of Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, and said they would release him in return for the arrested Taliban commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah. Azizuddin had gone missing on his way from Peshawar to the Torkham border crossing on February 11 when he lost contact with authorities in the Khyber Agency. Dadullah was arrested in Quetta on the same day. "We have heard this news on TV channels… However, we have not received any formal information to this effect," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema told reporters.

February 12

The deployment of army troops for maintaining peace in different parts of the country during the elections began and the government declared over 19,000 polling stations ‘sensitive’ and imposed a complete ban on carrying and display of weapons in the vicinity of the stations.

The Pakistan Army said that it had no plans to withdraw its officers working in the ISI, contrary to the policy it had adopted for other civilian departments. "Who will work there if we call them (our people) back from the ISI," said ISPR Director-General Major General Athar Abbas.

February 13

A roadside bomb blast hit an election campaign convoy in Swat, killing two people and injuring three others. Mufti Hussain Ahmed, an independent candidate contesting for the NA-30 and PF-86 seats, was among the wounded.

A five-man group was involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, but their link with militant commander Baitullah Mehsud has not been established, said Chaudhry Abdul Majid, the Additional Inspector General of CID who is heading the government’s investigation into the assassination. He said of the five, two had been arrested, the man who fired shots later blew himself up and the fourth, another suicide bomber who was at the other end of Liaquat Bagh, escaped. The "handler" is yet be traced.

February 14

A roadside bomb struck a SFs vehicle in Mamoond in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA, killing three SF personnel, including Major Farhan, and injuring two others.

February 15

A German man of Pakistani origin has been arrested in southwestern Germany on suspicion of working for al Qaeda, the office of the federal prosecutor said. The suspect, identified as Aleem N., made four trips to the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan where he handed over at least 4,000 euros to al Qaeda operatives each time, it said in a statement. The trips took place between April 2005 and June 2007, and also served to smuggle radio equipment and binoculars to the organisation, AFP reported.

February 16

A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into the election office of an independent candidate in Parachinar city of FATA, killing at least 47 persons, including six children, and injuring 109 others.

February 17

Four security force personnel were killed and another sustained injuries when a landmine exploded in the Pir Koh gas field area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan.

February 18

19 people were killed and 157 others were injured in countrywide election-related violence, said caretaker Interior Minister Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz. The minister said that nine died in Punjab, seven in Sindh and three in NWFP. He did not give any casualty figures for Balochistan, where four people were reported to have been killed. According to independent reports, the overall death toll in the country was 26.

President Pervez Musharraf promised to work with whatever new government emerges from the parliamentary elections. According to AP, he told PTV after casting his vote that, "I will say from my side, whichever political party will win, whoever will become prime minister and chief ministers, congratulation to them on my behalf. And I will give them full cooperation as president."

The Wazir and Daur tribes reached an "agreement" with the North Waziristan political administration against "extremism" and "terrorism". "The political administration of North Waziristan and all sub-tribes and clans of Wazir and Daur tribes have agreed to jointly struggle against extremism and terrorism throughout the agency," a press release from Governor’s House said.

February 19

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly followed closely by the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) in the elections held on February 18. The PPP led with 87 seats out of 272, followed by 66 for the PML-N, and 38 for the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). Among the smaller parties, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement won 19 seats and the Pakhtun nationalist Awami National Party got 10 seats. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a religious coalition which won 59 seats in 2002, was able to win only three this time. Other political parties - the PPP-Sherpao, the Balochistan National Party, the National People’s Party and the PML-F - got one, one, two, and four seats, respectively. Independent candidates won 27 seats.

Zardari and Nawaz Sharif separately called for President Pervez Musharraf to quit after his allies were defeated in the general elections. "Musharraf had said he would quit when the people tell him to. The people have now given their verdict," Nawaz told a press conference in Lahore. "We will now take this demand (of the president’s resignation) with us to the parliament and see which political forces support us," Zardari told BBC.

February 21

Unidentified assailants shot dead three traffic policemen in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. Bibarg Baloch, a spokesman of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The PPP and the PML-N agreed to form coalition governments, including with the ANP. "We have agreed on a common agenda. We will work together to form the government in the centre and in the provinces… We will ensure that you complete a full five years’ term," Nawaz Sharif told a press conference in Islamabad after talks with PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. Zardari said there were "a lot of grounds to cover" between the two parties, but added: "Inshallah (God willing) we will be meeting off and on. In principle, we have agreed to stay together." The PPP and the ANP agreed to work together for the supremacy of parliament, judicial reforms, provincial autonomy and war on terror, Zardari and ANP President Asfandyar Wali told reporters after their meeting.

February 22

A remote-controlled bomb exploded at a wedding party procession, killing 14 people and wounding 13 others, mostly children, in the Matta administrative division of Swat district. The bomb, which was detonated in the Ronial Takh Maira area of the region, exploded around 4pm (PST) when the wedding party was travelling from Kandogai village to Pir Dar Baba village.

February 23

Three SF personnel were killed and six others sustained injuries when armed men attacked a check-post on the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. A police official claimed that a militant was also killed and several others were injured in an exchange of fire.

February 24

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said that they were ready for peace talks with the new Government, but only if it rejected President Pervez Musharraf’s "war on terror" in the country’s tribal belt. A TTP spokesman quoted Baitullah Mehsud as calling for negotiations with parties that beat the president’s allies in elections. "The Taliban movement welcomes the victory of anti-Musharraf political parties... and announces its willingness to enter into negotiations with them for bringing peace," Taliban spokesman Maulana Omar said, quoting a statement by Mehsud. He urged the new administration to "avoid repeating the mistakes of the Musharraf government."

February 25

A suicide bomber killed eight people, including the Pakistan Army’s surgeon general, in Rawalpindi - the highest-ranking military official killed since the country joined the US-led war on terror. Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig, surgeon general and Director-General of the army’s Medical Services, died after a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up next to a military convoy on a busy road in Rawalpindi. Five civilians were also killed, while 25 others were injured, an army statement said.

Five workers of a NGO were killed while ten others sustained injuries in an attack by a group of ten militants in Mansehra in the NWFP. The British-run NGO was actively distributing relief goods, including food items, blankets and utensils, among the earthquake victims.

Three security force (SF) personnel were killed and five others injured when a remote control bomb hit their vehicle in Sangsila area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan.

Two persons died when their motorcycle hit a landmine adjacent to the Sindh-Balochistan border in the jurisdiction of the RD-109 police station near Kashmore in Jacobabad.

Armed men shot dead two civilians in the Noshki area of Balochistan. Police sources said Ikram Ahmed and Khadim Hussain were engaged in repair work in the Noshki district jail when two armed men riding a motorbike opened fire on them, killing them on the spot. A spokesman for the Baloch Republican Army has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Two suspected militants were killed in an encounter with the police at Dildar Ghari check-post in the Charsadda district of NWFP. The encounter ensued in the jurisdiction of Batgram police station when a group of militants started indiscriminate firing at the police party after the latter asked them to lay down arms and surrender.

In a suspected sectarian incident, a Shia leader was shot dead in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. Police officials said that Haji Ghulab Hussain was going to his shop at around 9:15am (PST) when unidentified assailants opened fire and injured him seriously in the jurisdiction of Khan Raziq Shaheed police station.

The Interior Ministry said that security forces had arrested more than 440 militants, including 60 would-be suicide bombers, in the last three months. Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier (r) Javed Cheema told reporters, "Security agencies have arrested 442 terrorists and militants during the past three months. From 60 of these terrorists, suicide jackets and other material was confiscated, which shows the law enforcement agencies are in protective mode and stopped them from launching suicide attacks." Cheema said that 17 suspects had been arrested in Punjab, 26 in Sindh, 13 in the NWFP and 122 in Balochistan. Similarly, 124 alleged militants were arrested in Swat while 140 surrendered to security forces. He said that 45kgs of explosive, eight detonators with leads, five remote controls with chargers and 10 hand-grenades had been seized in Punjab. 43 kilograms of explosives, 44 detonators, two rocket-launchers and 53 hand-grenades were seized in Sindh. In the NWFP, 50,096 kgs of explosives, 26 hand-grenades, 10 explosive jackets, 16 dynamites, 14 detonators, four rocket-launchers, 11 missiles, 32 mortar shells and 24 safety fuses were recovered. The spokesman said that from February 1 to date, 770kgs of explosive had been seized and two explosives-laden vehicles impounded in Swat. He added that 18 explosive devices, 96 detonators, 75kgs of explosive, 112 hand-grenades, 246 mortar shells, 56 mines, 19 rocket launchers and four AA guns had also been seized from the militants.

February 28

At least 10 suspected militants were killed in a missile strike on a house in South Waziristan. The dead were believed to be of Pakistani and foreign origins, residents and officials said. The attack occurred at approximately 2AM (PST) in Kaloosha village, 10 kilometers west of Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan.

February 29

Forty people were killed and more than 75 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the funeral prayers of the slain Deputy Superintendent of Police (Lakki Marwat), Javed Iqbal Khan, in the Mingora city of Swat district. District Police Officer Waqif Khan said the bomber was among the people taking part in the funeral. The blast occurred when the funeral concluded and the people had started to disperse. Deputy Superintendent of Police Javed Iqbal, who died in a bomb blast along with three other policemen in the troubled southern Lakki Marwat district on February 29-morning, belonged to Makan Bagh in Mingora city.

The banned Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) reportedly drew several hundred supporters near its headquarters in Karachi as it denounced the blasphemous caricatures of the holy Prophet published in some Danish newspapers, and declared jihad against Denmark and the West if they continued to insult Islam. It was the fist major public rally by the SSP since it was banned in 2001. The SSP’s protest took place after Friday prayers at the SSP headquarters at Masjid-e-Siddique Akbar in the Nagan Chowrangi area.

The district government of Bannu has dismissed 35 Frontier Constabulary personnel from service for laying down their weapons and refusing to fight the Taliban, The Post reported.

March 1

A civilian and a soldier were killed and 23 persons, including eight security force personnel, injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a security forces vehicle in the Jardar area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA.

March 2

Forty-two people were killed and at least 58 others sustained injuries in a suicide bombing at a tribal peace jirga (council) near the Zarghunkhel check-post in Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP. The jirga of Zarghunkhel, Akhurwal, Sheraki, Bostikhel and Toor Chapper tribes had been convened to discuss the formation of a Lashkar (army) to drive militants out of the area. A severed head was reportedly found at the site and officials believed it was that of the bomber. Some people identified the teenager as a youth from the Sheraki area of Darra Adam Khel.

At least 10 people were killed and six others injured when dozens of armed men belonging to the Khyber Agency-based Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) attacked Shiekhan village on the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, with rocket launchers and other sophisticated weapons before bulldozing a shrine and four houses. "Dozens of armed men of Mangal Bagh-led militant organisation attacked Shiekhan village at around 11.30 am. The villagers, mostly unarmed and unprepared, resisted the assault that resulted into a fierce clash between the rival groups," said a police official.

Five militants were killed in a clash with the SFs at the Nakai check-post in the Mohmand Agency of the FATA. An official said that SFs had stopped a car at the check-post, about 12 km north of Ghalanai, the Agency’s headquarters, and told its five occupants that they needed to be frisked, but the latter refused. The militants subsequently tried to escape and in the ensuing encounter, SF personnel fired a rocket on the car, killing the five.

March 4

Eight persons were killed and 24 others sustained injuries when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the parking area of the Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore. The incident occurred at around 1:10 pm (PST) when classes in the Pakistan Navy War College were in progress. Eyewitnesses and police officials said five Navy officials and two suicide bombers died on the spot while one Navy official succumbed to injuries at a hospital.

Four militants and a villager were killed in a gun-battle which erupted in the Khankhel area of Lakki Marwat district of the NWFP after the abduction of a union council official and his two associates. Two of the militants were Uzbek nationals while the rest were tribal Wazirs, District Police Officer Romail Akram said, adding that an Uzbek militant had been arrested.

March 5

Anwarul Haq, an al Qaeda militant involved in the killing of an American diplomat, was sentenced to death in Karachi. One of the accused, however, was acquitted for lack of evidence. US diplomat David Foy and three others died when an attacker rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into his car on March 2, 2006 in Karachi.

March 9

The PPP and the PML-N agreed on a power-sharing formula to form a coalition government at the Centre and in Punjab. The parties also decided to re-instate the judges sacked on November 3 though a resolution in parliament, within 30 days of the formation of the federal government. According to the deal, the prime minister and the speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly will be from the PPP, and the federal cabinet will include ministers from the PML-N. The Punjab chief minister and the speaker and the deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly will be from the PML-N and the provincial cabinet will include ministers from the PPP.

Caretaker Interior Minister Lt Gen (r) Hamid Nawaz Khan claimed that around 200 militants have so far surrendered to the authorities in the Swat district of NWFP. He told PTV that 422 people had been arrested in Swat for their involvement in terrorist activities. "Six tonnes of explosive material has also been recovered from the area," he added. "Security agencies have averted 20 to 30 possible incidents of terrorism in the Punjab and Sindh during Muharram and the elections," the minister said.

March 10

The Taliban in Mohmand Agency of South Waziristan said that they were attacking security forces in the agency to avenge the killing of five of their men a week ago.

March 11

At least 30 people were killed and more than 200 sustained injuries in suicide blasts at the FIA headquarters and an advertising agency office in Lahore. The first attack was carried out at the FIA regional headquarters on Temple Road, severely damaging the eight-storey establishment and adjacent buildings. The building also housed the offices of a special US-trained unit created to counter terrorism. The suicide bombers on a pick-up rammed through the gate of the building, running over a policeman before blowing up the vehicle. The second attack was carried out on Bungalow No 83/F in Model Town – the office of an advertising agency. Two children and a gardener died in the bombing and about 12 people were injured.

11 people, including two women, were killed and over a dozen injured in fighting between the security forces and tribal militants in the Nawagai sub-division of Bajaur Agency. The fighting erupted after militants attacked the paramilitary FC personnel, who were fetching water from a nearby stream.

Four women and two children were killed when artillery shells fired from the Afghan side of the border hit a number of houses in the Tangri area of North Waziristan. Local people said that the area came under fire after a security camp in Afghanistan’s Khost province adjacent to North Waziristan had been attacked by some people.

March 12

Policemen Mustafa and Suleman were killed and two others were wounded when the roadside bomb they were defusing exploded in the Charbagh area in the Swat district of NWFP.

Two people, suspected to be Taliban facilitators, were killed when the bomb they were making exploded in the Kabal sub-division of Swat district.

March 14

Dutch police have arrested a Pakistani man who they say is linked to a jihadi network which was largely dismantled after raids in Barcelona during January 2008. The 26-year-old suspect was detained in the south-western Dutch town of Breda, the public prosecutor’s office said in a statement. The detainee was "suspected of belonging to a global jihadist network which prepares attacks in western Europe", the statement said.

March 15

A powerful bomb blast occurred at the Italian restaurant Luna Caprese in Islamabad, killing a Turkish woman, Inder Baskar, who worked for a Turkish relief agency, and wounding about 15 others, including some US diplomats.

At least five persons, including four tribesmen and one Taliban, were killed and another seven wounded, including five Taliban militants, as two rival groups exchanged fire during a local jirga in the Mir Ali subdivision of North Waziristan.

March 16

At least 20 people were killed as several missiles hit a house in South Waziristan. Seven missiles landed on the house of Noorullah in Toog village, located four kilometres south of Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan. Local journalist Sailab Mehsud said 20 people were killed and five others wounded in the missile attack. He said all those who died were Arabs and Turkmen, who had gathered at the house when the attack occurred.

Police in Islamabad arrested 232 suspects in connection with the March 15 bombing of an Italian restaurant. "Those who were arrested include students of various madrassas of Islamabad," an unnamed official said.

Three Saudi militants have been handed over by Pakistan, the Saudi interior ministry said. The three "were in Pakistan. Further investigation will tell if they were in other areas," ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki told AFP in a reference to Afghanistan.

March 17

Two policemen, Toor Gul and Aanayatur Rehman, were killed and five others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself in the police barracks in Mingora in the Swat district. District Police Officer Waqif Khan said that a young man posing as a recruit and holding a police uniform entered the barracks at Mingora Police Line and subsequently approached the wireless room and blew himself up.

March 20

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a military vehicle in front of the brigade headquarters at Zari Noor in South Waziristan, killing five soldiers and injuring 11 others. A man claiming to be a spokesman for the pro-government militant commander Maulana Nazir claimed responsibility for the attack. It is for the first time that Maulana Nazir’s group has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack.

At least three nomads are feared to have been killed after some rockets fired from the Afghan territory, hit a makeshift house near the Angoor Adda in South Waziristan.

March 21

Four persons were killed and 28 others injured after clashes erupted between Shia and Sunni Muslims during a Nauroz (Persian New Year festival) procession in the Hangu district of NWFP.

March 22

The PPP nominated Yousaf Raza Gillani, its vice chairman, for Prime Minister’s post in consultation with coalition partners.

March 23

Two persons were killed and 50 others injured when six bomb blasts ripped through two parking lots, and destroyed 40 oil tankers in the Bacha Mina area near the Torkham Border crossing in Khyber Agency. Each oil tanker carried around 45,000 litres of fuel, sources said.

March 24

The National Assembly elected PPP Vice Chairman Yousaf Raza Gillani as the country’s new prime minister, with the highest number of votes in Pakistan’s parliamentary history. Gillani won with a majority of 264 votes in the 342-seat Lower House, compared to his competitor, the PML-Q’s Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, securing only 42 votes. Three Members of the National Assembly - Maulana Asmatullah of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Ideological, Faqir Jadem Mangrio and Ghulam Dastgir Rajar of the PML-Functional - chose to abstain from the voting process.

March 25

Unidentified gunmen killed three people, including a woman, in the Matta sub-division of Swat district in the NWFP.

March 26

Seven people, including two women, were killed and two others sustained injuries when gunmen ambushed a Government ambulance in the Lower Kurram region. The ambulance was going to Peshawar from Parachinar when it came under attack at the Chappari check-post.

March 27

Two officers of the Intelligence Bureau believed to be involved in anti-Al Qaeda operations were shot dead on a busy street near Regal Chowk in Karachi. Tahir Naveed, a police officer, stated that it was apparently a case of targeted killing.

Taliban spokesman Maulana Umar warned tribal elders against meeting US officials, while welcoming ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan’s "refusal" to meet top US officials. "If tribal people do not stop meeting US officials, we will view them as American agents," the spokesman said in telephone calls to local reporters from an undisclosed location. Key tribal elders from Khyber Agency in the FATA had met US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher in Landikotal on March 26.

March 30

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said that it was ready for talks with the Government, provided that Islamabad reverses its pro-American policies. TTP leaders told a rally in the Inayat Kalay Bazaar of Bajaur Agency in the FATA that they welcomed Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani’s announcement that the Government would negotiate with the Taliban and end the Frontier Crimes Regulations. TTP leaders, including Maulana Faqir Muhammad, Maulana Sher Bahadar, Muhammad Ismail, and party spokesman Maulana Omar, also demanded the implementation of Sharia law and the jirga system according to tribal traditions. They also said jihad against America would continue in Afghanistan. However, they added that they were ready to end their activities and improve law and order in Pakistan if the Government showed flexibility.

Al Qaeda is training western-looking operatives in the tribal areas of Pakistan, making it easier for them to get past security at US airports, according to CIA Director Michael Hayden. Talking on NBC’s news programme ‘Meet the Press’, Hayden said the most likely point of origin from where terrorists would launch another attack against the US was the sanctuary in tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan. He also said that the agency believed Osama bin Laden was in the border region, between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but he was "not operationally involved." He "is more of an iconic figure" for the global terrorist movement, Hayden stated, adding that killing or capturing him and deputy commander Ayman Al Zawahiri remained a "high priority for the CIA."

March 31

A man and a woman were stoned to death by militants in the Khwezai-Baezai area of Mohmand Agency after a ‘qazi court’ (Islamic court) found them guilty of adultery. This is the first incident of Rajam (stoning to death) carried out in FATA. Earlier, couples found guilty of adultery by militants or tribesmen were executed by firing squads.

At least two people were killed and 10 others sustained serious injuries in the Swat district. The Deputy Superintendent of Police in the Matta sub-division, Haroon Babar, said that militants ambushed a convoy of about 35 elders at the Malikabad area when they were on their way to the Venai checkpoint.

Authorities should only use force as a last resort against militants near the Afghan border, newly elected NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said. Addressing the provincial assembly, he said the use of force in the past made it harder to bring peace to the province. He said his Government would, instead, promote dialogue at all levels. "We’ll make every effort to restore peace in the province. We’ll form traditional jirgas for peace," he stated. The Awami National Party’s Hoti was elected as Chief Minister unopposed on March 31.

April 6

Sectarian violence broke out between Shia and Sunni sects in three villages of Kurram Agency in the FATA after a bomb exploded at Khurmana Pul, killing three people and injuring 22 others. A 16-member jirga (council) consisting of elders of the two sects intervened and brokered a truce between the warring groups in the villages of Khwar Kalay, Balish Khel and Sangeena, in the presence of political administration officials.

Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi has said that reconciliation efforts have begun in the province and the new Government will take steps to make them successful. He informed the media in provincial capital Quetta that stopping military operation and restoring peace and normality in the province would be the new Government’s priority. He said the Government’s first task should be to initiate dialogue with dissidents because the use of force over the past five years had not yielded any positive result.

April 7

The Balochistan Assembly in its inaugural session unanimously adopted a resolution calling for an immediate end to military operations in the province. The resolution also called for the release of Balochistan National Party (Mengal faction) chief Akhtar Mengal and all detained political activists, and the rehabilitation of Balochistan’s internally displaced people. The House also passed a resolution unanimously calling for an UN-led investigation into former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. A resolution moved by 12 legislators demanded a judicial inquiry into the murder of former Balochistan governor Nawab Akbar Bugti and former Member of Provincial Assembly Balaach Marri. Another related resolution called for an UN-supervised probe into their murders, and demanded that Bugti’s body be handed over to his family. The fourth resolution demanded the abolition of the police and restoration of the Levies Force.

The new coalition Government will not negotiate with "terrorists", Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. "We will not negotiate with terrorists, but we will engage [them in dialogue] and we believe in political engagement," Qureshi told Dawn News television in an interview.

The British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in Islamabad that there were connections between terrorist groups operating in the UK and Pakistan. Threats to the UK had connections in Pakistan, she said, adding that threats to Pakistan had been traced back to the UK.

April 7

All the religious outfits which were banned by General Pervez Musharraf during his military rule would approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan and seek restoration, said Hafiz Saeed, chief of the proscribed LeT. "The ban was a step that the retired General took only to please America and now it is abundantly clear that people have rejected his policies," Saeed told The News. He criticised President Musharraf's Kashmir policy and alleged that the 'U-turn' taken by the Musharraf Government on Kashmir had badly damaged the cause of the Kashmiris' ‘freedom struggle’.

April 8

The NWFP Government launched a fresh peace process for the violence-hit Swat district by constituting a ministerial committee to initiate dialogue with different groups of militants. Provincial Information Minister Sardar Hussain Babak said that the provincial cabinet in its first meeting had decided to reactivate the jirga system to resolve the issue of militancy through peaceful means.

April 9

Armed supporters of the TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah reappeared in the Matta sub-division of Swat district and were seen marching on the roads. According to locals, commanders Iqbal Hussain and Ikramuddin led the armed militants — numbering between 40 and 45.

The proscribed BLA has rejected the Government’s offer for talks, saying it was not ready even to consider it. Talking to Dawn by a satellite phone, the BLA spokesman Beebarg Baloch said: "We regard the Government’s offer for talks as its defeat because previously it was not ready even to recognise the existence of the BLA." He said that three pillars of what he called genocide of the Baloch nation - establishment, the army and the Musharraf-led system - were intact and the Government could not hoodwink the Baloch people. He said that two former governors of Balochistan, a chief minister, a provincial minister and a federal minister were on the hit-list of the BLA.

April 11

JeM and LeT, the Pakistan-based terrorist groups, are among the 44 outfits designated as ‘Foreign Terrorist Organisations’ (FTO) by the US. Besides these two, other groups active in India — the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami and Pakistan-based HuM — are also in the FTO list issued by the office of the coordinator for counter terrorism of the US Department of State. "FTO designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressurising groups to get out of the terrorism business," a State Department statement said. Other groups of the South Asia include LTTE and LeJ.

April 12

Eight people were killed and 10 others injured in fresh violence between rival groups of the Kurram Agency, raising the death toll of the past eight days in the area to 35. Five tribesmen — Qadir Gul, Hamid Hussain, Rafique, Taib Khan and Abdul Hanan — were killed, and 10 injured, during a clash in the Marro Khel area of Lower Kurram Agency. Similarly, three people were shot dead by armed rival groups in the areas of Balishkhel, Sadda, Karman, Para Chamkani, Pewar and Teri Mengal.

Three dead bodies of security force personnel, who were reported ‘lost’ during a military operation earlier this year in South Waziristan, were found.

April 14

The death toll in the ongoing sectarian violence rose to 48 as seven more persons were killed and 16 others sustained injuries in Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency. Five people were killed when a mortar shell hit a trench in Parachamkani and one each was killed in the Balashkhel and Sadda areas.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has urged the Government to honour its pledge regarding holding negotiations with the Taliban to pave way for durable peace in the FATA.

The National Assembly asked the Government to approach the United Nations to get former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination investigated by an international commission, on the pattern of a probe into the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri.

The FBI Director Robert S Mueller told a meeting in London last week that al Qaeda would not "go quietly into the night," having established "new sanctuaries" in "ungoverned spaces, Tribal Areas, and the Frontier province of Pakistan." Addressing a meeting at Chatham House, Mueller said al Qaeda is resilient and its network is now diffused. He said a top tier is the core al Qaeda organisation, which has "established new sanctuaries in Pakistan", which means that it can "reconstitute its leadership, recruit new operatives, and regenerate its capability to attack."

April 15

Traders and industrialists said they had been receiving threatening letters from Lashkar-e-Islam in the Khyber Agency, causing the suspension of night shifts in scores of factories in industrial estates in Hayatabad.

A cease-fire was enforced in the Balishkhel, Sadda, Khwar Killay and Sangeena areas of the Kurram Agency in FATA after 11 days of sectarian violence, which left over 50 people dead and more than 100 wounded. Officials said the two factions had agreed to a cease-fire and vacate hilltops in the troubled areas of the Kurram Agency bordering Afghanistan.

A two-day ‘Ghazi Islam Conference’ organized by the TTP began in the Mohmand Agency of FATA at the mausoleum of Haji Sahib Turangzai. Local ulema (religious scholars), Taliban leaders and delegations from the Tank and Swat districts of the NWFP, and the North and South Waziristan, Kurram Agency, Orakzai Agency and Bajaur Agency participated in the conference. However, the media has been prevented from reporting their names.

April 16

At least 20 persons were killed as fighting erupted between Lashkar-e-Islam activists and Kooki Khel tribesmen of the Khyber Agency in FATA.

The Government’s claims of holding talks with Baloch insurgents are a "pack of lies" and the new Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi and Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani are "fooling themselves" by offering talks, the BLA said, and also issued a hit-list to kill two former governors and a former chief minister of Balochistan.

April 17

The Lashkar-e-Islam chief, Mangal Bagh, has said that his outfit is fighting against terrorism, crime and gambling and has 180000 volunteers in the Khyber Agency of FATA. Mangal Bagh also claimed that his outfit had no contacts with al Qaeda and any other organisation.

Harabyar Marri, son of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, has been released from a London jail on bail. Harabyar had been arrested in December 2007 and detained in London on terrorism charges, the channel said.

The United States Government Accountability Office said that terrorists are still operating freely in Pakistan along its Afghanistan border.

April 18

Militants of Bajaur Agency in the FATA offered shelter to Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar, should they ask for it. Militant commander Maulana Faqir Mohammad also offered a general amnesty to all their opponents, except alleged US spies and those involved in adultery, and announced the formation of various committees for settling people's conflicts.

April 19

Local Taliban in South Waziristan Agency publicly ‘executed’ three people who had allegedly killed a teenager, Intezar Mehsud. The deceased, identified as Janan Mehsud, Farooq Wazir and an Afghan national, had allegedly murdered the boy who belonged to the Bandkhel tribe, after robbing him of PKR 60,000.

April 20

Three security force personnel were killed and a civilian was injured in the Hub area of Balochistan.

Ahmad Shah alias Mullah Ismail, a Taliban commander blamed for the deadliest attack on US troops since they entered Afghanistan in 2001, was killed in a shootout with security forces in Pakistan, US and Pakistani officials said. Police killed Ahmad Shah at a roadblock near Peshawar, an unnamed senior Pakistani intelligence official said.

The abductors of missing Pakistan envoy Tariq Azizuddin have demanded the release of 12 prisoners, including the men suspected of plotting Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, in exchange for his freedom. The kidnappers demanded the release of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, the TSNM chief Maulana Sufi, five Afghan Taliban militants and the three men arrested on charges of allegedly plotting Benazir Bhutto’s assassination — Aitzaz Shah, Hussnain and Rafaqat.

The Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh claimed that he was repeatedly asked by Taliban militants in Waziristan and elsewhere in the FATA to make his armed group part of the TTP but he rejected the demand, as he didn’t want to do anything that could harm the country.

April 21

The Balochistan Government withdrew all cases, including those of sedition, against detained former Balochistan Chief Minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal, but Mengal’s Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) rejected the move, terming it a "cosmetic measure taken by a powerless provincial government."

The NWFP Government has released Maulana Sufi Muhammad, chief of the banned militant organisation TNSM, under a peace deal to restore normalcy to Swat and its adjoining areas. "Sufi Muhammad and the jirga have given assurances that he and his companions will remain peaceful," NWFP Information Minister Sardar Hussain Babek told AFP.

Militants have warned the Government that they would resume fighting if it does not stop the military operations in Swat, South Waziristan and other Tribal Areas. Taliban spokesman Maulana Omar told reporters on the phone that they [Taliban] had nothing to do with the abduction of Tariq Azizuddin, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan. He also said the Government had violated the "ceasefire".

There is "strong evidence" that al Qaeda operatives are present in the Tribal Areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

April 22

The Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Balochistan University, Dr. Safdar Kiyani, was shot dead by insurgents in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. According to sources, two people on a motorbike opened fire on Dr. Kiyani when he came out of his house in the Green Town area on Sariab road for an evening walk. The BLA has claimed responsibility for the murder. "He had been working for intelligence agencies and we had already warned him," the BLA spokesman Beebargh Baloch told reporters from an unspecified location.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, widely considered to be number two in the al Qaeda, criticised Muslims for failing to support Islamist insurgencies in Iraq and elsewhere in a new audiotape posted on the Internet. In several parts of the audio message, al-Zawahiri claimed that Taliban took over 95 per cent of Afghanistan and was sweeping Pakistan as well. "The Crusaders and their agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan are starting to fall," al-Zawahiri said.

More agreements between the NWFP Government and militants are in the pipeline, NWFP Law Minister Arshad Abdullah said. He said that the release of Maulana Sufi Muhammad, chief of the banned TNSM, was a step towards bringing peace to the Malakand division.

April 23

The leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baitullah Mehsud, has ordered his militants to "immediately cease their activities" in the FATA and NWFP. "Baitullah Mehsud has issued directives to all his comrades that in order to restore peace in the region, they should cease their activities forthwith both in the tribal region as well as the settled districts of the NWFP," said a pamphlet released on April 23. "He has warned that his directives should be complied with and those violating them will be publicly punished," it said. A spokesman for Baitullah confirmed the contents of the pamphlet circulated in South Waziristan in FATA and the adjoining districts of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP. A 15-point draft agreement, to be signed between the Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan and the local political administration, calls for an end to militancy, exchange of prisoners, withdrawal of the military and resolution of issues in accordance with local customs and the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

April 25

At least three people were killed and 26 injured when a car bomb exploded near Mardan City Police Station in the NWFP. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack. "This attack was carried out by our mujahideen to avenge the earlier killing of one of our commanders by police in Mardan," TTP spokesman Maulana Omar told Reuters by telephone.

April 26

Three Taliban militants and four suspected criminals were killed and several others, including women and children, injured in a clash in the Dadukhel area of the Mohmand Agency in FATA.

April 28

Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the TTP, has temporarily suspended talks with the Government over the army’s refusal to withdraw from the FATA, his spokesman announced. The cease-fire announced by Mehsud last week would continue, spokesman Maulana Umar added.

The Islamabad High Court division bench granted bail to former Lal Masjid chief cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz in four cases involving the abduction of Chinese nationals and policemen, the murder of a Rangers trooper and terrorism against the state.

A report by the European Police Office is reported to have stated that Pakistan’s tribal areas is the "command and control centre" for al Qaeda’s "remaining core leadership" planning attacks in the EU.

If the Government does not remove all military check-posts from the Mohmand Agency in FATA within three days, the Taliban will not accept any peace agreement with the Government, militants’ spokesman Asad warned.

April 29

Militants killed three policemen and injured three others in Kohat. The officers were reportedly following the militants who had earlier stolen a taxi. "The attackers then opened fire and the policemen did not have a chance to retaliate… It appears to be a terrorist attack," the NWFP police chief Malik Naveed told AFP.

April 30

The local Taliban retook control of Darra Adam Khel in NWFP after talks between the administration and tribal elders to guarantee safety of the Indus Highway were deadlocked.

The NWFP Government has reportedly received a list of demands from the local Taliban to end the ongoing tension and restore peace in the Swat Valley of NWFP. Sources said that the Taliban have demanded the imposition of Shariah (Islamic law) in Malakand division, an end of all cases against the Taliban and amnesty for the local Taliban of the region. The Government is considering the demands to bring peace to the region, they added.

Maulana Fazlullah said that he is ready for talks with the Government. In a speech broadcast on his illegal FM radio station, he said that the Government must show sincerity in its efforts for peace to ensure successful negotiations. This was the first transmission by Fazlullah’s radio station since it was shut down by troops during the military operation in 2007.

Al Qaeda's continued public calls to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf has remained a 'threat to Pakistan', said the US State Department's Country Report on Terrorism 2007 that has also declared attacks on Benazir Bhutto as the 'deadliest' of the previous year. The report said that despite having a huge presence of approximately 80,000 to 100,000 troops in the FATA, the Government's authority in the area continued to be challenged. It said military operations though disrupted militant activities no senior al Qaeda leader was either captured or killed in 2007.

May 1

The local Taliban have started sending their militants to Afghanistan to fight the United States-led NATO forces after announcing a cease-fire in Pakistan. An unnamed Taliban leader told BBC that the local Taliban leadership had started sending militants into Afghanistan after announcing a truce in Pakistan following an agreement with the new Government. He said that many Pakistani Taliban had crossed into Afghanistan in groups over the last few days to attack the US and NATO forces.

NWFP Chief Minister, Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, will reportedly unveil a $4 billion peace plan that envisages a 30 per cent reduction in militancy within three years, retrieval of the areas lost to militants and improvement in the writ of the state. The plan, put together by a task force of the Awami National Party, envisions a peace jirga (council) comprising provincial ministers and legislators. The Government has set up a peace committee for Malakand to restore peace in Swat but the plan proposes a larger jirga with its terms of reference outlined.

May 2

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that the military operations in Balochistan have been stopped. Addressing the Balochistan cabinet in the provincial capital Quetta, the Prime Minister also asked the federal and provincial Governments to withdraw all cases registered against former Chief Minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal so that he could be released. The Prime Minister also reportedly ordered the provincial Governments to use all available resources to trace the ‘missing people’ of Balochistan and other provinces.

The head of the US armed forces warned that militants hiding in the FATA of Pakistan pose a direct threat to the United States and other Western nations. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are using the area to regroup and "I believe they are preparing to launch attacks against the US and Western interests," said Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.

May 4

The federal Government has decided to withdraw the Frontier Corps (FC) from Gwadar and Quetta and hand over the responsibility of managing the law and order to police in the two cities. However, officials said that FC troops would remain stationed in troubled areas like Dera Bugti and Kohlu to protect sensitive installations, including the Sui gas plant and the pipeline network supplying natural gas all over the country.

Al Qaeda based in Pakistan were behind last week’s assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s intelligence chief said.

The Taliban blamed the Government’s "inflexibility" for the lack of progress in negotiations. Talks between the Government and the TTP had stalled early this week after Baitullah Mehsud accused the Government of refusing to withdraw troops from the FATA and Swat in the NWFP.

May 5

An army official was injured when the Baitullah Mehsud-led Taliban militants launched their first attack on the army after peace talks in South Waziristan failed.

The TTP has banned musical alerts on mobile phones in the FATA. Geo News quoted a TTP spokesman as saying that TTP deputy chief Maulana Faqir Muhammad had banned playing music in vehicles as well as on cellular phones. He said that violators would be punished according to the Shariah (Islamic law).

The United States said that it wanted Pakistan to live up to its commitment of urgently bringing security under control in the FATA, allegedly used as a safe haven by al Qaeda and Taliban militants. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Islamabad recognised that bringing the mountainous and unpoliced FATA under control was an urgent priority for Pakistan’s own sake.

May 6

A pro-government elder of the Bugti tribe and his nephew were killed and three other people were injured in a bomb blast in Dera Allahyar in Balochistan. The Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility of the attack.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a checkpoint in Bannu in the NWFP, killing a police constable and two civilians and injuring 12 persons, including four army soldiers and four policemen.

Suspected militants shot dead two policemen outside a bank in the Matta Bazaar of Swat district in the NWFP.

May 7

Two policemen and a civilian were shot dead in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, triggering a reaction by local businessmen, who shut down their businesses in protest against the killings. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.

An Afghan governor warned that radical groups in Pakistan were receiving funding from Arab nations for the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies. "They can finance Taliban activities for another 10 years," Laghman province Governor Lutfallah Mashal said at a meeting of the European Union officials, journalists and Afghan experts in Brussels.

May 8

Six militants were killed near the Wennai bridge in the Matta sub-division of Swat district in the NWFP.

Troops blocked the main road leading to the South Waziristan in a confrontation with al Qaeda-linked militants who operate in the region. The blockade of the road leading to South Waziristan on the Afghan border came after militants loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, set up check-posts on the road to exert control over the region.

May 9

The political administration in Bajaur Agency launched a crackdown on the Salarzai tribe and arrested over 50 people under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation. The administration also impounded 10 vehicles. The crackdown was launched after militants attacked a convoy of the Bajaur Scouts going to Latai Post from Khar and took 20 paramilitary soldiers hostage and snatched two vehicles and weapons from them on May 8. Sources said the militants later set the soldiers free but did not return the vehicles and weapons.

The Awami National Party-led Government in the NWFP and militants in the Swat district reached a cease-fire agreement. The truce was achieved after three hours of talks between a Government committee and a team of militants representing Maulana Fazlullah.

The Government freed the Balochistan National Party chief and former Chief Minister, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, after holding him in custody for one-and-a-half years over charges of abducting agents of an intelligence agency.

May 10

Unidentified assailants shot dead three Shia community members in the Dera Ismail Khan area of NWFP in an incident of suspected sectarian violence.

May 11

The TTP announced that the unilateral cease-fire announced in April 2008 has virtually ended and therefore the militants have resumed attacks on troops in some parts of the country. It also said that the Taliban had no intention to establish a Government within the Government or run a parallel judicial system. However, the spokesman made clear that the Taliban would take action against sins, injustices and malpractices if brought into their notice by the citizens. The Taliban didn't want to fight with army or police but the militants had to retaliate when they were attacked, he said. The spokesman said that the Taliban were fast spreading in other parts of the country in general and in the tribal areas as well as in most parts of the NWFP in particular, saying that all the Taliban were united under their leader, Baitullah Mehsud.

May 13

A policeman was killed and two others sustained injuries in an attack by the insurgents in Quetta. The BLA claimed responsibility for the killing. It also reportedly warned the people of Balochistan to quit working for law-enforcement agencies or "the BLA will kill them".

The NWFP Government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban agreed to the implementation of Shari Nizam-e-Adl Regulations 1999 in the Malakand division within one month. The Taliban’s demand for the implementation of Shariah (Islamic law) has been settled, the NWFP unit president of the Awami National Party, Afrasiab Khattak, informed the media after the second round of talks with Taliban representatives from Swat. He also said the two sides decided to extend the cease-fire agreement until the third round of the dialogue.

May 14

At least 12 militants, including some foreigners, were killed in a suspected United States missile strike on two houses in the Damadola area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. Two missiles, apparently fired by a US drone aircraft, demolished a house and a compound used by suspected al Qaeda militants, an unnamed official said. Taliban spokesman Maulana Omar said that ‘commander’ Maulana Obaidullah’s house had been targeted. However, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said that there was no army in the area and he had no knowledge of any missile strike.

The Pakistan Army exchanged prisoners with the local Taliban in South and North Waziristan, as the military began to readjust its positions in the Mehsud areas to facilitate the return of displaced families. "Twelve security personnel — five army jawans and seven Frontier Corps personnel — were swapped for over 30 Taliban prisoners," military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said. He also said the army had started readjusting troop positions close to the populated areas to facilitate the return of displaced families. He stated that the troop readjustment was in no way a withdrawal from the area.

May 16

Militants released Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, after holding him in captivity for 97 days. His release came after protracted negotiations between the Government and militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, with tribal leaders acting as mediators.

May 18

Thirteen persons, including five soldiers, were killed and 23 others, including 11 soldiers, sustained injuries in a suicide attack at the Punjab Regiment Centre (PRC) market in the Cantonment area of Mardan in NWFP. Security officials said the bomber was around 22 years old and detonated the bomb when stopped from entering a bakery at the PRC market. The Tehrik-i-Taliban in Darra Adamkhel claimed responsibility for the attack. The PRC is reportedly a base for troops involved in operations against militants in the tribal region.

Brahmdagh Khan Bugti, a leader of the insurgents, has rejected the Government’s offer for talks, saying that the Government’s claims of providing relief to Balochistan were designed to secure an "honourable retreat for the defeated forces". Talking to the channel from an undisclosed location, the grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti claimed that 10,000 Bugti tribesmen were living a miserable life in Afghanistan because of the military operations in Balochistan.

May 19

Three civilians were killed and two others sustained injuries when an improvised explosive device exploded outside a mosque in the Dabar area of Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency in the FATA.

May 21

The Taliban militants operating under the command of Maulana Fazlullah in the Swat district signed a 16-point peace agreement with ANP-led NWFP Government and agreed to disbanding the militia, while denouncing and renouncing suicide attacks and stopping attacks on the security forces and Government installations.

Four relatives of two parliamentarians from the FATA were killed in an ambush in the Jamrud sub-division of Khyber Agency in the FATA.

A single bench of the Balochistan High Court headed by Chief Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai has acquitted the BNP-M Chief Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal and General-Secretary Habib Jalib in treason cases and ordered officials concerned to quash the First Information Reports and exonerate them of the charges.

The federal cabinet said that it would not engage in talks with extremists and terrorists and decided to pay compensation to the people affected by military operations and militancy in the FATA, especially South Waziristan. Presided over by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, a cabinet meeting declared that peace talks were being held only with ‘peaceful tribesmen’ and there would be no deal with militant and extremist outfits who challenged the Government’s writ.

May 22

A top American general endorsed a US intelligence assessment that the next 9/11-type attack on the US soil would come from al Qaeda bases in the FATA in Pakistan but urged the United States to increase its security assistance to the country to help it deal with the threat. General David Petraeus, a top US military commander nominated to lead the Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that "Clearly, Al Qaeda’s senior leadership has been strengthened in the Fata, even as though their main effort still is assessed to be in Iraq by them, as well as by us. But the organisation of an attack, if you will, would likely come from the Fata."

May 23

Mir Shahzain Bugti, the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti, was released in Bolan district after the Balochistan Government withdrew all cases against him. He was released as part of the provincial Government’s efforts to release all political and tribal prisoners in order to reconcile with the alienated Baloch political parties and tribesmen. Shahzain disappeared in May 2007 and it was announced in June that he had been detained.

A Pentagon report said that the growth of al Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas is "troubling" and warned it may take Pakistan several years to turn around the situation. The report to Congress by the US Department of Defense said Pakistan increased its troop levels in the border areas by 30,000 in 2007, and made "significant and costly" efforts to eliminate safe havens.

May 24

Two policemen were killed and two others wounded in a roadside bomb blast in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP.

Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud vowed to continue fighting the NATO and US-led forces in Afghanistan regardless of negotiations for a peace deal with the Pakistan Government. Mehsud told a group of journalists that he wanted to stop fighting the Pakistan Army, but made no commitment about halting attacks in Afghanistan. "Islam does not recognise frontiers. Jihad in Afghanistan will continue," Mehsud said.

May 25

An al Qaeda figure killed in a United States air strike in Bajaur Agency on May 14 is believed to have been an Algerian allegedly involved in training militants and plotting attacks against the West, officials told Los Angeles Times on May 23. They said the Algerian, known by the nickname Abu Sulayman Jazairi, apparently died in the aerial strike that killed 14 people and destroyed a compound near the Damadola village.

May 26

Six persons were killed and five others sustained injuries in incidents of sectarian violence at Dera Ismail Khan. Witnesses said four people from the Shia community were killed when they were attacked while going to a court. The motorbike borne assailants also fired on a police team going to a checkpoint, killing constable Qismatullah. Further, some people opened fire on a member of the banned Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Abdur Rasheed, on the University Road, killing him on the spot.

May 27

Eight persons were killed and 13 others sustained injuries in the Orakzai Agency when militants of the Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-ul-Islam, the two rival groups of Khyber Agency clashed.

Eight militants were killed and four others sustained injuries when a vehicle loaded with ammunition blew up in the Salarzai sub-division of Bajaur Agency in FATA.

Two senior Taliban leaders, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund and Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, have reportedly been released by the Pakistan Government in a prisoner swap with the Taliban. The duo was released along with hundreds of other militants to secure the release of Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin and 35 Army officials.

The United States Treasury said it had decided to freeze the assets of four leaders of the Pakistan-based LeT, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.

A top Afghan intelligence official said that his agency received information several months ago that al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hiding in northern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan. The unnamed official told AFP that bin Laden was said to be in a mountainous region in Chitral, a Pakistani region facing Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar.

May 28

The Taliban announced a complete cessation of hostilities after holding talks for six days with a peace committee of elders from Darra Adamkhel. A spokesman for ‘commander’ Tariq said the Government had assured them that the military would stop operations in Darra Adamkhel and, in return, the Taliban would stop their activities on the stretch of Indus Highway passing through Darra Adamkhel. He said: "Now we are completely satisfied and trust the man provided by the Government as a guarantor, and announce immediate cease fire. Formal talks for finalising modalities of the peace deal would commence from Thursday."

The Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (also known as Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)) denied it had links with al Qaeda, as Washington imposed financial sanctions on its chief and three other leaders. Jama’at-ud-Da’awa spokesman Muhammad Yahya Mujahid denied that Saeed was still involved in the LeT and claimed the US statement was "based (on) enmity with Islam, lack of knowledge and ignorance." "America cannot prove in any court in the world Hafiz Muhammad Saeed’s links with incidents of terrorism," Mujahid said in a statement. According to him, "The recent step by America is a result of Indian propaganda and an effort to pressure Pakistan’s government."

Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, is spending approximately PKR 3 billion on militancy annually, the NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani said. "He [Mehsud] is spending between Rs 2.5 - 3 billion yearly on procuring weapons, equipment, vehicles, treating wounded militants and keeping families of killed militants fed," said the Governor.

May 30

Six youths were shot dead and four others sustained injuries in an ambush by the insurgents on the Samungli Road in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. A spokesman for the BLA claimed responsibility for the attack saying that those killed were spying for the Military Intelligence and the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Two women were killed and another woman and a constable were wounded in a landmine explosion in the Kohlu district of Balochistan.

The chief organiser of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP), Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti, has refused to hold talks with the Government within the framework of the federation. He extended "100 percent support" to all the militant groups operating in Balochistan, saying the only way forward for the Baloch was to stop ‘begging’ for provincial autonomy and jobs from the central Government. The BRP, formally a faction of the Jamhoori Watan Party, was launched recently with a new flag and manifesto.

Welcoming the NWFP Government’s offer for talks, a spokesman for the local Taliban announced a cease-fire in the Mardan district. The spokesman, identifying himself as Maulana Abdullah, addressed journalists at the Mardan Press Club on phone. He said the Taliban had carried out a number of terrorist activities, including bomb blasts, rocket attacks and suicide bombing in protest against the military operation against them.

May 31

A bomb exploded in a vehicle owned by the Taliban in the Mamad Ghat area of the Mohmand Agency, killing at least three militants and a bystander while injuring three more militants.

The BNP refused to participate in the Government-sponsored talks aimed to establish peace in the Balochistan province, saying that Islamabad should first halt the ongoing military operation.

June 1

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a senior pro-government tribal militant commander, Haji Hanan, and his bodyguard, Rafiullah, near the Frontier Region Darazenda of Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP.

The Taliban in Swat set up their own court in the Piochar village of Matta sub-division in NWFP. Three cases were reportedly heard in the court headed by a Qazi.

June 2

A suspected suicide bomber blew up his car outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, killing at least eight persons and injuring 30 others. The Danish Foreign minister said a Pakistani cleaner employed at the embassy and a Danish citizen of Pakistani origin had died and three other local employees were hurt, but the embassy’s four Danish staffers were unharmed. There was no claim of responsibility for the blast, but officials said it was likely linked to anger over blasphemous caricatures, which were recently reprinted by Danish newspapers.

June 3

Five Afghan children were killed and an equal number of them sustained injuries in an explosion in a house on the Sariab Road in Quetta. The explosion occurred in the house of an Afghan scrap dealer when the children were reportedly attempting to dismantle a mortar shell.

Four persons were killed and seven others wounded in a landmine explosion at a roadside in the Spin Tara area of Kurram Agency. Political administration officials said a truck carrying passengers to central Kurram Agency drove over a landmine. The dead included two Afghan nationals, a nine-year old boy and an 11-year-old girl.

June 4

Three civilians were killed and three others sustained injuries in a bomb blast at a video shop in a business centre at Kohat in the NWFP. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Meanwhile, the All Combined Bazaar Association has given a 24-hour ultimatum to the CD shop owners in the district to wind up their businesses to avoid action by the association.

Two militants affiliated with ‘commander’ Maulana Faqir Mohammad were killed and two others sustained injuries when troops of the paramilitary FC allegedly fired at them near Nawagai in the Bajaur Agency of FATA The TTP, led by Baitullah Mehsud, threatened to avenge the killing of their cadres. The two slain militants were identified as Ziaur Rahman and Nauman, while the two others who sustained injuries were identified as Daud and Parvez Khan. TTP spokesman Maulana Omar claimed the four militants were en route to Kamar Nagra area near Nawagai where, they had convened an important meeting of militants to review the deteriorating law and order situation in the town. "As we had mentioned earlier, some people in the government for their vested interests wanted bloodshed and violence to continue in the tribal regions and today's incident was an ample example of their anti-peace conspiracy," said the TTP spokesman.

Al Qaeda has said it was behind the suicide attack on Denmark's embassy in Pakistan on June 2 which it mounted in revenge for the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.

The NWFP Prison Minister Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel said the Government had released a majority of the detained militants in Swat.

Following successful talks with militants, the Government started withdrawal of the Army troops from the Darra Adamkhel town, sources said. The militants had announced a cease-fire on May 27 after the Government reportedly accepted all their demands, including the removal of all roadside checkpoints, withdrawal of security force personnel, the release of militants held during military operation and payment of compensation to the affected people.

June 5

Police in Rawalpindi foiled a major terror plot, seizing explosives-packed vehicles and arresting four suspected terrorists. Police sources said that the police had seized 1000-kilograms of explosives along with bullets, ball bearings, metal scraps and broken pieces of mirror, adding, religious literature was also seized from the suspected terrorists. They said that the terrorists had been captured after a massive sweep of the city was launched on intelligence reports that three explosives-packed vehicles had entered the city to target sensitive locations. According to the sources, preliminary investigations have revealed that the suspected terrorists confessed that they were planning to target the President’s Camp Office and offices of several law-enforcement agencies.

A judge in Spain filed terrorism charges against nine Pakistanis and two Indians suspected of planning suicide attacks in Barcelona and elsewhere in Europe. Ten persons were arrested in Barcelona in January 2008 during raids in which police also recovered bomb-making equipment. It was not immediately disclosed where the 11th person was arrested. All were charged with belonging to a terrorist group, and eight were additionally accused of possessing explosives. The charges were based on the declarations of a witness who is a former member of the cell, which is suspected of planning suicide attacks on the Barcelona metro and other European cities. Three of those arrested, Pakistanis Mohamed Shoaib, M. Khalib and Imran Cheema, had been tasked with carrying out the suicide bombings, and had recently arrived in Barcelona, the judge said. Three others, Hafeez Ahmed, Qadeer Malik and Sahib Iqbal, were allegedly explosives experts.

June 6

Four people were killed in two explosions in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP. The first bomb exploded in the University Road area without causing any damage. As police and civilians gathered at the scene, another bomb exploded killing four people, including two policemen, and wounding another nine, police official Mohsin Shah told Reuters. Five people including four policemen were killed in the remote-controlled bomb attack. DI Khan District Police Officer Abdul Ghuffar said that the first bomb had been planted on a bicycle and the attack targeted police. He said 15 people had been injured in the blast, nine of who were policemen. He said the area had been cordoned of after the incident.

Dutch police arrested a 26-year-old Pakistani man wanted in Spain on terrorism charges, according to the Netherlands’ prosecution service. "Aqueelur Rehman Abbasi was arrested on Friday in his prison cell in Vught where he was being held by the immigration and naturalisation services, at the request of Spanish authorities," said prosecution spokesman Frank Wattimena.

Leader of the House in the Senate Raza Rabbani tendered an apology on behalf of the ruling coalition for military operations carried out in Balochistan in different tenures. Rabbani said the government would not allow demographic change in the provinces, and said the proposal denying the right to vote in Balochistan to those who settled in the province from elsewhere was being considered. The PML-Q Mushahid Hussain said, "We as a nation should apologise to the Baloch."

The Pakistani government is not holding peace talks with terrorists but only with peace-loving elements as part of a multipronged strategy to fight extremism, said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Afghanistan.

June 8

Four children were killed in an explosion triggered by suspected militants at Chitral in the NWFP.

The TTP issued pamphlets to local journalists at Hangu in NWFP that cautioned the Pakistan Government to stick to their peace agreement. The pamphlet, signed by ‘Commander’ Nazir of the TTP stated that if the Government violated the treaty, then Taliban could open new fronts against the Government. The pamphlet warned the Government against fighting America’s war on terror in Pakistan, as its ramifications could be dangerous. It also said that the Government should not consider them weak, as the TTP was an organised power that could not be thwarted easily.

June 9

Four Policemen were killed and a SHO was injured when around 20 militants opened fire on a Police mobile unit on a routine patrol near the Mattani bypass in Peshawar. Militants also set ablaze the vehicle and stole the Policemen’s weapons.

Pakistan Government scrapped its peace deal with the Taliban as militants have reneged on their promise to stop violence, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik said.

A 50-member jirga (council) in Kurram Agency agreed to a month-long cease-fire between rival groups engaged in armed clashes in Pewar and Teri-Mengal areas.

Three persons were killed in the Balyameen area of the Lower Kurram Agency when unidentified militants opened fire on a vehicle. The vehicle was travelling to Balyameen from Anzari when gunmen opened fire, killing Sajid Hussain and his driver Ahmed Gul on the spot while another unidentified man died soon after.

June 10

At least 11 paramilitary soldiers and 10 militants were killed in an air strike by the US-led forces on a Frontier Corps security post in the Sheikh Baba area along the Afghan border in Mohmand tribal region. 15 people, including six paramilitary soldiers, were reportedly injured in the attack. Officials of the Mohmand Rifles have said that 40 of their men are missing. A spokesman of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Maulvi Umar said that eight Taliban had been killed and nine others wounded in clashes. He also claimed that the Taliban have captured seven soldiers of the Afghan National Army and shot down a Nato helicopter, killing its crew.

Any future terror attack against US interests would most likely be carried out by militants based in Pakistan’s restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen said. The top military official told a press in Washington that tribal groups with ties to al Qaeda in the FATA represent the worst security threat to the US.

June 11

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the air strike by the US-led forces on a Frontier Corps security post in the Sheikh Baba area along the Afghan border in Mohmand tribal region on June 10 and said his government would ensure the sovereignty of the country. At least 11 paramilitary soldiers and 10 militants were killed in the air strike.

June 13

Militants shot dead five tribesmen, including a pro-government tribal elder, Malik Zahideen, near Miranshah in North Waziristan of FATA.

Nawab Khair Baksh Marri has said he would be willing to represent only the BLA, and not other Baloch forces, in talks with the Government.

The NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani has said that the Government will continue its dialogue with militants in the FATA despite ‘enormous’ international pressure.

A broad security plan is on the cards to protect the Peshawar city from attacks by local Taliban. They said around 3,000 security force personnel would be deployed to guard Peshawar, and that 26 security posts would be set up to monitor militants. An unnamed senior police official said that Police had told the Government that it could not control militancy on its own and needed the assistance of the Frontier Constabulary, the Frontier Corps and the Army.

June 15

Four persons were killed and another was injured when a car drove over a landmine near Seenzala in the NWFP. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, threatened to send Afghan troops across the border to fight Taliban militants in Pakistan. Accusing Pakistan of sheltering most of the fighters involved in recent incidents in the Garmser District of Helmand Province, he told a News Conference that Afghanistan had the right to self-defence, and because militants cross over from Pakistan "to come and kill Afghans and kill coalition troops, it exactly gives us the right to do the same".

June 16

A bomb exploded inside a Shia mosque killing at least four people and injuring two others in the Dera Ismail Khan district of NWFP. Police said that the explosion was triggered inside Imambargah Hazrat Ali in Mohallah Roshan Chirgah when worshippers were coming out of the mosque after offering evening prayers.

Police released Qari Saifullah Akhtar, a key suspect in a suicide bombing that killed around 150 people at a homecoming rally for former premier Benazir Bhutto at Karachi in 2007.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, talking to Yasin Malik, chairman of the JKLF, at Parliament House, said that Pakistan would continue to extend moral, diplomatic and political support for the Kashmiri freedom struggle, and it wanted a just and peaceful resolution of the problem in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people. Gilani said that sustainable peace in South Asia could not be achieved without the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

June 17

Unidentified assailants killed four persons when they opened fire on a vehicle in the Hangu Bazaar of NWFP following an abduction attempt.

The Taliban have warned women and school-going girls in a town near Kohat in the NWFP to wear burqas (veil) when going out and to avoid visiting markets without a male escort.

The Swat police allowed a ‘safe exit’ to a potential suicide bomber on June 16 following negotiations to protect nearby civilians.

The Swat-based Taliban have suspended contact with the NWFP Government to protest against the slow progress on a peace agreement they entered into less than a month ago, said Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan, adding, that "some elements were interfering in the peace process," as a result of which Taliban had decided to temporarily freeze contact with the provincial Government.

June 18

Three persons were killed and eight others injured in a mortar attack and firing incident in village Shalozan of Kurram Agency in the FATA.

President Pervez Musharraf has said that he will not step down from his position and would continue to play his constitutional role as the President "to strengthen democracy in the country". Musharraf said that there was, however, a provision for impeaching the President in the constitution and the parliament had a right to make use of it.

June 19

Militants belonging to a Sunni group ambushed a food convoy killing four persons and subsequently set ablaze three trucks loaded with goods at Kurram agency in the FATA. Meanwhile, security forces, backed by helicopter gun-ships, retaliated killing five militants in region.

Four Pakistani soldiers were killed and three others injured in a clash with a jihadi group near the LoC.

June 20

Taliban have warned transporters in Karachi against supplying oil to coalition forces in Afghanistan, in leaflets distributed and displayed in Shireen Jinnah Colony on Mauripur Road.

NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour told the provincial assembly that there are no Taliban in Peshawar and the provincial Government will not hold talks with local Taliban in other settled areas.

June 21

Five people were killed and nine others injured in an exchange of fire between two religious groups, the Ansarul Islam and Lashkar-e-Islam, in the Teerah Valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.

June 22

At least 15 militants were dead and dozens injured in a clash between the Lashkar-i-Islam and Ansarul Islam in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in the FATA.

June 23

12 persons were killed in the continuing clashes between the Lashkar-i-Islam and Ansarul Islam in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in the FATA.

Gunmen shot dead eight members from a Shia tribe in the Kurram Agency in the FATA.

Militants loyal to the Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud captured Jandola town in South Waziristan after a battle with pro-government tribesmen, in which six persons, including four tribesmen and two militants, were killed. Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesman said nine people, including seven tribesmen, had been killed and the Taliban had abducted 10 pro-government fighters.

June 24

Taliban militants began withdrawing from Jandola in FATA, a government and a security official said.

Three terror suspects confessed to plotting suicide attacks at sensitive government buildings and to having links with militant leader Baitullah Mehsud.

The banned SSP has once again rolled up its sleeves and started getting active across Pakistan, and especially in Karachi, but with a new name Ahle Sunnat wa Aljamaat Pakistan (ASWJP) which roughly translates into The Sunni Party.

Parliamentarians warned the Government that the country might lose one of its provinces if it did not consider the situation in NWFP seriously. Speaking on a point of order, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said it was a matter of months until the NWFP was no longer part of the country. He also criticised Malik’s statements, saying the government would further aggravate the situation through the use of force. He also questioned why the government’s policies in NWFP and Balochistan did not match.

June 25

Taliban killed 22 members of a pro-government "peace committee" at Jandola of Tank in the NWFP. Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar claimed responsibility for the killings.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has approved a military operation to clear the Tribal Areas of militants.

June 26

The suspected militants gunned down local PPP leader Abdul Akbar Khan, his wife, and two sons in Matta tehsil (administrative division).

Suspected militants killed a prominent tribal elder, his son and mother-in-law in Matta tehsil.

June 28

Eight persons were killed and five others injured as clashes between two groups in the Tirah area of Khyber Agency in the FATA. The report said that the groups were using mortar guns, small missiles, rockets and other heavy arms in the fight.

Local Taliban in the Bajaur Agency of FATA publicly executed two Afghans after accusing them of spying for the United States forces suspected of launching a missile strike on the region in May. One of the men was stabbed to death and then beheaded, while the second was shot with an assault rifle. "They were spies. Whoever spies for the Americans will meet the same fate," Wali Rehman, a Taliban leader said. He also said that the two persons have provided names of some more spies and he would kill all those involved in the attack.

Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud suspended peace talks with the Government, when troops launched an offensive against militants in the Khyber Agency of FATA.

June 29

Soldiers backed by armoured vehicles retook control of Bara town in the Khyber Agency of the FATA and prepared to advance to other areas in the district, including the Tirah Valley.

The TTP Taliban announced that they had ended all peace agreements with the Government.

A shura (executive council) of the TTP endorsed Baitullah Mehsud’s announcement about suspending all peace agreements and negotiations with the Government in FATA and the NWFP.

Foreign elements hailing from Central Asian Republics (CAR) are disturbing peace in the FATA, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said.

June 30

Seven tribesmen were killed and nine others sustained injuries in a blast at the base camp of a banned outfit in the Bar Qambarkhel area of Bara sub-division in Khyber Agency.

The Ministry of Interior said that the operation launched in the Khyber Agency of FATA would continue till its objectives were achieved. It also announced a ban on three groups operating in the region for their involvement in criminal activities. "Lashkar-i-lslam of Mangal Bagh, Ansar-ul-lslam of Mahboob-ul-Haque and the Haji Namdar group have been banned under the Anti-Terrorist Act and a notification to this effect has been issued," sources at the interior ministry said.

Two groups of local Taliban in Waziristan have joined hands to fight against the NATO troops in Afghanistan. The Mulla Nazir group of South Waziristan and Hafiz Gul Bahadur group of North Waziristan agreed to jointly fight the NATO troops in Afghanistan. They nominated Hafiz Gul Bahadur as the joint ameer (chief) and Mufti Abu Haroon as spokesman for the Taliban militants.

The TTP of Swat refused an invitation to attend peace negotiations that had been extended to them by the NWFP Government.

July 2

America’s top military official said that he has all the authority he needed for targeting senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan’s tribal areas. "I’m comfortable, as the military leader, that I have all the authorities I need," said Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, when asked if he had the authority to target key terrorist leaders hiding in the FATA.

July 3

Five people were killed and several others injured in fresh clashes between LI and AI in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. According to locals, clashes have continued for 13 day and both groups have occupied strategic positions in the mountains of Tirah Valley and are attacking each other with heavy ordinance. They said that over 80 people had been killed on both sides since the start of the clashes and the political administration had not been able to stop the fighting.

July 4

South Korean police said that two Pakistanis were among nine people arrested for trying to smuggle tonnes of chemicals for heroin production to Afghanistan’s Taliban.

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has said al Qaeda is regrouping in the border areas of Pakistan.

The offensive in Khyber Agency will continue until the writ of the government is restored in the region, said NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani said.

The Government suspended its security operation against suspected militants and criminals in the Khyber Agency for 36 hours to allow Afridi tribesmen to meet Mangal Bagh and conduct peace talks.

July 5

SFs suspended a crackdown against militants for 36 hours in the Khyber Agency to allow local elders to negotiate with them. Operation Sirat-e-Mustaqeem (Righteous Path) was launched on June 28.

Two more persons were killed in clashes between cadres of Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-ul-Islam, taking the toll in recent fighting between the groups to 91.

July 6

20 persons, including 15 policemen, were killed and more than 40 persons wounded in a suicide attack near the Melody Market area of capital Islamabad. The suicide bomber targeted policemen deployed at a rally observing the first year anniversary of an army raid on the Lal Masjid (Red mosque) in Islamabad.

A report indicated that the TTP has established Sharia courts in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA and a large number of people are using them to get disputes resolved, instead of waiting for action by the tribal administration.

The three organisations that were running parallel governments in the Khyber Agency have been disbanded, bringing normalcy to the area, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, said.

July 7

The local Taliban and tribal elders decided at a meeting to expel Uzbek militants and their local collaborators from the areas of Ahmadzai Wazir tribe in South Waziristan.

The NWFP Government and the TTP agreed to keep their agreement intact and carry forward the dialogue process for lasting peace in the Swat district.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani revealed that the Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh, who was involved in terrorist activities in the Khyber Agency, had assured the contesting candidates in the February 18, 2008 elections of success if they took oath of facilitating suicide bombing inside parliament.

July 8

Unidentified militants killed five security force personnel and injured three others while attacking their vehicle in the Bara sub-division of Khyber Agency in the FATA. There were unconfirmed reports about the death of a militant in retaliatory fire, whose body was taken away by the militants.

Unidentified armed men shot dead a religious leader in the Charbagh division of Swat district in the NWFP on July 7-night, police sources said on July 8. Charbagh Darul Uloom Administrator Maulvi Masood was killed in an ambush, the officials said.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) threatened to carry out suicide attacks in major cities of the country. The threat from the militants came after a US unidentified aerial vehicle (UAV) hit yet another town of Bajaur Agency on July 8. "This latest US attack in Khar (Bajaur Agency) by US Predator proved that Pakistan is continuously supporting the US air strikes on its territory. We will avenge the killing of our innocent people by the Pakistani security forces and will launch suicide attacks in important cities of the country," Maulvi Omar, a TTP spokesman, warned. He said a woman sustained injures and two cattle were killed when a US UAV reportedly fired "Hellfire" missile on a house owned by one local tribesman Subhan Khan in Khar, headquarters of the Bajaur Agency.

July 9

The political administration and Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) signed an agreement making it binding on the banned group to accept the Government’s writ in the Bara subdivision of Khyber Agency in the FATA. The agreement signed by officials of the political administration and six elders of the Afridi tribe prohibits the movement of supporters of the group in Bara town and display of weapons. The group’s chief Mangal Bagh and his men will not attack security forces and Government installations. Haji Shaukat Khan, a member of the jirga (council) which negotiated the agreement, told Dawn that security forces would stop the operation in the area and return to the barracks. He said all the people detained during the operation would be released on July 9.

A 400-strong force of Taliban militants laid siege to a police station in Hangu in the NWFP after the arrest of seven of their associates by security agencies. According to officials, 35 policemen were present in the Doaba station when militants encircled it. Heavily-armed Taliban militants were reportedly seen patrolling the Doaba bazaar and taking positions to counter any operation by the security forces.

A landmine exploded at the Sateen Camp area in Kurram Agency in the FATA, killing a man and injuring another.

There has been an increase in mortar and rocket attacks from militants in Pakistan at United States and Afghan border outposts in Afghanistan, said the top NATO commander. US General David D McKiernan, who took command of the 40-nation NATO-led mission in early June 2008, said "there definitely has been an increase (in cross-border attacks) since I’ve been here in the last 30 days." McKiernan said the number of attacks had increased because militant groups had been free to operate in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas and cross the Afghanistan-Pakistan border unimpeded.

The Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Sherry Rehman is currently a prime target for terrorists and the Interior Ministry has advised her to restrict her public movements in light of the threat to her life, Daily Times reported.

The Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta told the UN Security Council that a key factor behind the worsening security in his country was "the de facto truce" in neighbouring Pakistan’s tribal areas. "One of the main factors contributing to the deterioration of the security situation in the country is the de facto truce in the tribal areas beyond the border," he said during a council debate on violence-wracked Afghanistan. "Terrorist sanctuaries and an elaborate system of financing, recruiting, arming and systematic training of suicide bombers are at work outside our borders, to keep the terrorist threat alive," Spanta said.

July 10

At least seven people were killed and 12 others were wounded in three separate landmine explosions in different parts of Kurram Agency in the FATA. According to the Assistant Political Agent of Lower Kurram, three people were killed and six others injured when a vehicle carrying vegetables struck a landmine in Arawali village. Four people were killed and five others wounded when a tractor trolley struck a landmine in the Kach area, he added. Similarly, one person sustained injuries when he passed over a landmine in the Magnek village.

Clashes between the two rival groups, the Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-e-Islam and the Mehboob-led Ansarul Islam, in the remote Tirah Valley of the Khyber Agency in the FATA continued. There were reports that at least three persons were killed and nine others injured in the fresh clash between the two groups. Two of the killed were Lashkar activists, who allegedly attacked the Ansar's base in the Malikdin Khel area of the valley, while six of the group's men sustained bullet injuries.

The body of a doctor killed by suspected militants was found in the Dosli sub-division of North Waziristan. Identified as Dr Farrukh Aftab, a resident of Islamabad, officials said that the man had been shot four times in the chest. A note pinned to his body read: "He [Dr Farrukh Aftab] was opposing Islam and jihad, and he was a supporter of European countries. He was working for NGOs." It is yet unknown whether the man was seized while visiting the region, or abducted from Islamabad and brought to Waziristan.

A trustee of the Hussainian Iranian Imambargah in Kharadar in Karachi was shot dead. 25-year old Agha Mansoor Ahmed was attacked while he was sitting with some friends at his restaurant on the MA Jinnah Road. "According to the initial investigation, this is a case of a sectarian killing," said Saddar Town Superintendent of Police, Ameer Sheikh.

Militants fired three rockets at the house of a Bajaur Levies trooper, Sahibzada, in the Salarzai sub-division of Bajaur Agency in FATA, killing his 15-year-old daughter Salma Jan and injuring his other two children, daughter Sana and son Samar Gul.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Major General Athar Abbas accused Indian forces of violating a 2003 cease-fire in Kashmir. General Abbas said the Indian Army fired mortars and small arms without any provocation in the Battal sector of Kashmir. "The Indian Army opened fire at 2 pm today without any provocation, and our forces deployed there also returned the fire… The Indian Army is to be blamed for the breach of ceasefire," Abbas claimed. Pakistan’s forces returned the fire, he said.

More foreign fighters, including al Qaeda militants, are operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas than in the past, the top US military officer said during a visit to Kabul. Admiral Mike Mullen said militants are flowing into Afghanistan more freely this year compared with 2007 because Pakistan’s Government and military are not putting enough pressure on the insurgents. "There are clearly more foreign fighters in the FATA (Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas) than have been there in the past," he added.

July 11

The United Nations has agreed to establish an independent commission to investigate the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said.

July 12

At least 17 people – including 13 Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel – were killed in a clash between the Taliban militants and SFs in the Hangu district of NWFP. The fighting erupted after Taliban militants ambushed an FC convoy in the Drori Banda area of Hangu. The dead also included three civilians and a local militant, residents and Taliban sources said.

Seven people, including two women, were killed and four others injured in clashes between the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) and Ansar-ul-Islam in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. The militants groups exchanged heavy fire, although a Jirga (council) of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam led by Shujaul Malik was due on July 12 in the valley to defuse the tension in the area.

July 13

Six persons were killed and 10 others sustained injuries in fresh clashes between the two warring groups of the Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-e-Islam and the Mahoob-led Ansar-ul-Islam in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. Activists of the two groups clashed in the Bar Shalobar area and exchanged gunfire, resulting in the death of six persons.

Militants beheaded a man in North Waziristan alleging that he was spying for the US. Locals found the beheaded body of Muhammad Ghani, a resident of Bannu, at Kharqamar, 45 kilometers west of Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan. Eyewitnesses said a note found near the body read: "He was a US spy and anyone found involved in spying for Americans will meet the same fate."

Four persons were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up soon after the concluding session of the Shuhada-e-Islam Conference in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP. Eyewitnesses and the police said the participants of the Shuhada-e-Islam Conference of the Shias, held in Kotly Imam Hussain, were returning to their homes when a suicide bomber, aged about 16, blew himself up.

July 14

Militants blew up a Frontier Constabulary (FC) fort in the Shinawarai area of Hangu district in the NWFP on July 14-night after looting arms and ammunition. Witnesses said that about 250 militants had besieged the fort, 30kms from Hangu town, and asked the FC personnel to vacate it or face action. After the personnel decided to leave the fort, they were given ‘safe passage’ by the militants.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan announced suspension of talks with the NWFP Government due to delay in non-implementation of the May 21 peace accord. Talking to The News, spokesman for the Taliban in Swat, Muslim Khan, said the Government was not sincere in keeping its commitments made during the talks in the past. "The Government failed to honour its promises made during the last two months of talks and now it will be meaningless to continue the process of dialogue," he said. He also said that it would be waste of time to continue negotiations without the dismantling of roadside checkpoints, withdrawal of all cases against Taliban, withdrawal of Army from Swat and compensation to the victims of the military operations.

July 15

A trooper, Khalil Ahmed, was killed when suspected insurgents fired a rocket at a check-post in Dera Bugti in Balochistan.

Security agencies arrested a top al Qaeda operative late on July 14 along with his two accomplices in Punjab’s southern city of Multan, Daily Times reported. Tanzanian national Muhammad Al Misri, Anwar Muawiya and Muhammad Shahid were arrested from a shutdown ‘Neel Wali Factory’ located on the Abdali Road. Al Misri is closely linked with al Qaeda’s top hierarchy and is also suspected to be behind the series of suicide attacks in Pakistan following the crackdown on the Lal Masjid (Red mosque). Anwar, a resident of Abbotabad, belongs to the banned Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the sources said, adding Shahid, another LeJ activist, is a local of Multan.

July 16

Seven persons were killed and five others injured in clashes between the Lashkar-e-Islam and the Ansar-ul-Islam militant groups in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency.

A police constable was killed and 12 persons, including five paramilitary soldiers, were injured when a bomb planted on a bicycle exploded in Mastung in Balochistan. Sources said that the bicycle had been parked near a Frontier Corps vehicle outside the town’s main mosque.

The Pakistan Army, the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and the Frontier Police launched an operation in the Naryab and Zargari areas of Doaba Town in Hangu district in NWFP, attacking hideouts of militants with gunship helicopters and artillery fire. There were unconfirmed reports that heavy shelling killed one person in Tora Warai while four others sustained injuries in Naryab.

The NATO-led troops in Afghanistan used attack helicopters and artillery to fire into Pakistan after coming under rocket attacks from the Pakistani side of the border, the alliance force said. The counter-attack on July 15 was launched from Afghanistan’s Paktika province, which adjoins Pakistan’s North Waziristan.

July 17

Security forces attacked militants around Hangu district in the NWFP, clearing several Taliban strongholds. "We have cleared Shamana Fort and Zarguri and Naryab areas north of Hangu," said military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas. In the crackdown launched late on July 16, "the security forces, backed by tanks and gunship helicopters, also secured Naryab Dam", local officials said. The spokesman said there were some casualties on the militants’ side, adding that the exact numbers were not available. Taliban spokesman Mullah Shaheen confirmed the clashes, conceding that four militants had been injured.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud has asked the NWFP Government to either resign within five days or "prepare itself to face the consequences." "The NWFP Government is not sincere about restoring peace, rather it is responsible for lawlessness in the tribal areas, Hangu and Swat," TTP spokesman Maulvi Umar quoted Baitullah as saying. Umar stated that the Taliban reserved the right to take action against the provincial Government if it did not resign in five days. He said the NWFP Government was a powerless entity and Taliban would not hold talks with a weak Government.

July 18

Despite a cease-fire brokered by two senior Afghan Taliban commanders on July 17, fighting between two rival militant groups continued on July 18 in which more than 50 militants were killed and dozens injured in the Mohmand Agency of FATA.

Ten militants were killed and five soldiers were wounded as clashes between militants and the army continued in a search-and-cordon operation launched around the Zarguri town of Hangu district in the NWFP. "We have reports of 10 militant casualties and five injured soldiers," Major General Athar Abbas told Daily Times. He said that Zarguri had been cleared of militants and the operation would continue until all affected areas had been cleared. The Taliban confirmed that they had lost five militants, but claimed that they had also inflicted heavy losses to the Government.

Suspected militants three persons in the Karwan Manza area of South Waziristan on suspicion of them spying for the US. A note, written in Pashto, was also found near the bodies, accusing the dead of spying for the United States. It warned that other "US spies" would face the same fate.

Unidentified militants shot dead a madrassa (seminary) head in the Mir Ali subdivision of North Waziristan. The attackers shot at Maulana Abdullah while he was standing in front of his seminary before escaping.

July 19

A security force personnel was killed while 10 militants were shot dead in retaliatory fire during a clash in the Och area of Sui in Balochistan. A team of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) was patrolling the area when unidentified militants attacked their vehicle, killing one FC trooper. The FC personnel returned fire, killing 10 militants.

Nine persons were killed and 10 injured in clashes between the Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-ul-Islam in the remote Tirah area of Khyber Agency. Sources said the clashes occurred in the Daki, Sangar and Inqilab Morcha areas.

Four members of a rival militant group, taken hostage by the Taliban, were executed by their captors in the Mohmand Agency of the FATA. The commander of the rival group, Shah Khalid, and his deputy Qari Ubaidullah, are among the dead. The Taliban said that 118 other captives belonging to the Shah group would be penalised ‘in accordance with the Sharia law’. Sources said that both the commanders were shot dead by Taliban at 10am following a verdict of the local Shura (executive council) held at an unspecified location.

Two persons were killed and one injured in a landmine explosion near the Och gas fields in Balochistan.

Gunship helicopters pounded militant hideouts in the Zargari town of Hangu district in NWFP. Hangu District Co-ordination Officer Shahab Ali told reporters that the security forces were "combing the area" to drive militants out of the town and its suburbs. Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah said the situation in Hangu district was under control after the military operation.

July 20

Approximately 43 persons, including 33 militants, nine Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers and a Pakistan Petroleum Limited engineer, were killed and many injured during clashes between the security forces and militants in the Toba Sandrani area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan. The clashes that started on July 19 continued the next day also in the Uch, Shah Zain and other areas. The FC personnel have also reportedly arrested over two dozen armed men and recovered ammunition from their possession.

July 21

Six more persons, including two security officials, were killed in Sui on the third day of clashes in the Toba Sandrwani and Uch areas of Balochistan. The military operation is reportedly continuing in the province and armoured Personnel Carriers, helicopters and heavy weapons were being used. Security forces have also destroyed two camps of the insurgents while borders of Jaffarabad, Naseerabad and Sui have been completely sealed off.

Two militants were killed and several others sustained injuries as security forces and the local Taliban militants traded fire near Sarbanda and Shawar valley of Matta division in the Swat district of NWFP. According to military sources, Taliban militants attacked a bunker of the security forces with mortars and heavy guns at 4pm (PST). In retaliation, the troops targeted the militants’ hideouts with heavy artillery and consequently, two militants were confirmed dead and several others feared dead or wounded. However, the Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed that only two children were injured as an artillery shell hit a house in the area and not a single militant was killed.

Taliban militants shot dead two Afghan men in North Waziristan after accusing them of spying for the United States forces in Afghanistan. A note left on the bodies in the border village of Lowara Mandi indicated that the two men were spying for the US forces, an official said, AFP reported. "All those spying for the US will suffer the same fate," it said. A source identified the slain Afghans as Muhammad Anwar and his son Gul Nawaz Khan.

Malak Shahjehan Khan, a prominent pro-government tribal leader and chief of the Mamond tribe, was killed and three other people were injured in an ambush near Shandi More, about one kilometer from Khar, headquarters of the Bajaur Agency in FATA. Malak Shahjehan and tribal leader Malak Mohammad Ayaz were reportedly going to Peshawar to attend a meeting with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

After the fifth round of the India-Pakistan composite dialogue on peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir and other Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told reporters in New Delhi that "the composite dialogue process was under stress". Menon said the ongoing investigations into the recent Kabul embassy blast had revealed the hand of "elements in Pakistan." Speaking to the media after meeting his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, Menon said the dialogue process had come "under strain" because in the "recent past several events have vitiated ties" and some of the leaders in Pakistan had reverted to the "old polemics." He described the cease-fire as "under stress" but both sides agreed that it must be "maintained and continued." Interacting with the media later in the evening, Bashir said his Indian counterpart had not given any evidence and described the charge of Pakistani hand in the Kabul embassy blast as "baseless" and "made first elsewhere" (he later said it was made by National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan).

Mustafa Ahmad Abu Yazeed alias Sheikh Saeed, al Qaeda commander in Afghanistan and a close aide of Osama bin Laden, is reported to have said that a Saudi member of al Qaeda carried out the suicide attack on Danish embassy in Islamabad on June 2. In an interview to Geo News, Saeed said there was no Muslim present at the Danish embassy at the time of the attack.

July 22

Three militants were killed and four SF personnel were injured in a clash in the Nodhan Bugti village of Jaffarabad district in Balochistan.

Unidentified gunmen killed a senior security officer of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. Ejaz Durrani, a spokesman for Zardari, said unidentified gunmen opened fire on Khalid Shahenshah’s vehicle outside his home in the Khayaban-e-Bukhari area.

A Taliban spokesman has warned that if the NWFP Government does not stop the military operation in Hangu, Swat and other areas, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) will launch severe attacks. The threat was issued at the expiry of a five-day ultimatum issued by TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud to the provincial Government to resign.

July 23

Six SF personnel were killed in an encounter with the insurgents in the Uch area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan. A Balochistan Frontier Corps (FC) spokesman Lt Col Shahid Mahmood said the SFs pursued the insurgents who opened fire at the FC party into the mountains located some 16 kilometers away from the Uch power plant where they discovered two temporary hideouts of the insurgents. At least 50 insurgents, equipped with heavy weapons, were holed up there. In response to the SFs bid to arrest them, they opened fire, which killed six soldiers and injured nine others.

The Army wound up its week-long operation in the Hangu district of the NWFP after flushing out militants and taking control of the area, said the military spokesman. The Director-General of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Athar Abbas, said: "Security forces have achieved the desired objectives and operation was halted on Wednesday evening." He stated that the Government’s writ had been re-established, possession of all police stations and check points had been retaken and the area was now under the control of the security forces.

Security agencies have been put on high alert based on the information that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud has prepared a hit list of around 300 high-profile figures, including political leaders, Daily Times reported. Sources close to an intelligence agency said that it was assumed that the leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party, anti-Taliban Shia, Sunni clerics, personnel from the intelligence and law enforcement agencies, officials from the interior and provincial ministries and journalists could be targeted by the TTP. Their families were also believed to be at risk.

July 24

A grand jirga (a large congress), representing the Taliban, and Kohat’s regional coordination officer, who represented the authorities, signed a cease-fire agreement and decided to resolve through talks all disputes arising out of the military operation in Hangu district of NWFP. The jirga held a meeting with Orakzai Agency’s political agent Kamran Zeb and informed him that Taliban would be allowed to stay in the tribal area on condition that they would stop meddling in the affairs of state and refrain from imposing their own laws and punishments. Member of National Assembly, Pir Haider Ali Shah, said concerns of both sides would be discussed at various levels from time to time and disputes would be resolved for restoration of normality in the region.

July 25

Up to 40 commanders of al Qaeda were arrested during military operations in Hangu and Bara, while 17 security force personnel had been killed, said Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik. He said that suicide attacks had come to "zero level" in the Punjab and Sindh provinces, adding that such attacks were down by 80 percent in the NWFP. Rehman also said the Government had employed the "three-Ds" (dialogue, development and deterrence) and "three-Ps" (prevent, protect and pursue) policy to contain terrorism in the country. He stated that the Government would prefer negotiations to sort out problems in the FATA, but warned that stern action would be taken if the peace deals between the NWFP Government and the tribal militants failed.

July 26

Twelve militants and three Frontier Constabulary (FC) men were killed in a clash near Loti Gas Field in the Dera Bugti district of Balochistan. FC Inspector General Maj Gen Saleem Nawaz said that the militants fired long-range weapons on the FC troops deployed in Toba Nokhani. The troops returned fire killing 12 militants. He said that three FC men who were wounded later succumbed to the injuries.

The Government placed the country’s external intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), under civilian control. According to a memorandum issued by the Cabinet Division under Rule 3(3) of the Rules of Business, 1973, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has approved conferring control of the two agencies’ administrative, financial and operational functions to the Interior Division with immediate effect.

July 27

The Government reversed its decision taken a day earlier to place the country’s external intelligence agency - the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) - under the administrative, financial and operational control of the Interior Division. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led Government ‘clarified’ the earlier notification, saying the ISI would continue to operate at the prime minister’s discretion. Under the new notification, the ISI will continue to perform its functions under the prime minister. It said: "The said notification only re-emphasises more co-ordination between the Ministry of Interior and the ISI in relation to the war on terror and internal security." However, the Government stood by its decision to place the IB under the Interior Division.

Maulana Fazlullah warned of a series of suicide bombings if the Government re-launched military operations against his supporters. Addressing a press conference in the Kabal division of Swat district, the Taliban leader claimed that he had prepared a brigade of suicide bombers who would be unleashed in case of a military operation.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur was unanimously reappointed the Taliban chief in North Waziristan. A decision to this effect was made at a meeting of the local Taliban, which was held at Razmak, 75 kilometers south of Miranshah. Over 800 Taliban militants attended the meeting, which was presided over by Bahadur, who hails from the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe.

July 28

A missile apparently fired from a Predator drone killed at least six persons in a compound in South Waziristan near the Afghan border. An unnamed security official said the strike might have killed a senior al Qaeda trainer known for his expertise in explosives and chemicals. "Our report suggests that the missile strike might have killed Abu Khabab Al Misri, an Egyptian. But it remains unconfirmed," the official said. A resident of Wana said two missiles struck a seminary and an adjoining compound in the Zyara Leetha area of Azam Warsak early in the morning, killing six people and wounding a woman and her two children. 55-year-old Midhat Mursi As-Sayid Umar alias Abu Khabab was considered to be an expert in conventional explosives and some western media reports said he headed a project named Al Zabadi, or ‘curdled milk’, for making chemical and biological weapons. The US had offered a $5 million reward on information leading to his capture.

Three officials of an intelligence agency were shot dead by the Taliban militants in Matta in the Swat district of NWFP. The slain men were identified as Sher Abbas Khattak, Malikdad and Riaz Ahmed. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Swat chapter spokesman, Muslim Khan, claimed responsibility for the killings and said, "The Taliban wanted to capture the officials alive, but the sleuths were killed while offering resistance."

The Government has declared eight districts in the NWFP as "high security zones" with emphasis on beefing up security in these zones to avert any possible attack from the Taliban. "We have received credible reports that after pulling out of the peace accord, the local Taliban are planning to launch attacks in these districts," said a senior official. These eight districts are Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Nowshera, Abbottabad and Tank.

The Afghan intelligence agency accused the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, of training thousands of militants to attack Indian road projects in Afghanistan. "Pakistan’s ISI (agents) are determined to hamper the activities of Indian companies in various parts of Afghanistan," the National Directorate of Security said in a statement. "The spy agency have some 3,000 terrorists, most of them foreigners, under sabotage training to attack Indian construction projects inside Afghanistan," it said.

July 29

Eleven militants and two SF personnel, including a Pakistan Army captain, were killed during day-long clashes between the SFs and the Maulana Fazlullah-led militants in the Swat Valley of NWFP. The militants also abducted 25 SF personnel after taking over a security post in the Dewlai area which, the officials claimed, was recaptured later in the day.

July 30

48 militants, including a commander, and five soldiers were killed and an unspecified number of people were injured as fierce clashes continued in the Swat Valley of the NWFP for the second consecutive day. The fighting erupted on July 29 after the militants attacked a security post in their stronghold in the Matta sub-division and took about 25 SF personnel hostage. After the overnight targeting of various militants’ positions, the SFs, backed by gunship helicopters, carried out an operation and shelled suspected militant positions in several parts of the valley, including Peuchar, Namal, Ronial, Sarbanda and Chuprial that left 48 persons dead and as many injured. The Taliban militants also claimed killing 25 SF personnel, but the claim could not be confirmed independently. A military spokesman said in the daylong clashes with the militants, one officer, a junior officer and three soldiers were killed.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) threatened to mount attacks across Pakistan because of the renewed military action in Swat. "We will start operations in the entire country, in the entire province... because we consider this an action against all Taliban… We will soon take a decision on starting operations".

A senior Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official visited Pakistan earlier in July 2008 and confronted Pakistani officials with evidence of ties between the country’s intelligence service and militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, The New York Times reported. Citing defence and intelligence sources, New York Times said that the trip by CIA Deputy Director Stephen Kappes demonstrated a harder line being taken against Pakistani ties to those responsible for the surge of violence in Afghanistan, including militant Jalauddin Haqqani.

Pakistan’s peace talks with extremists have resulted in a 40 percent rise in militant activity in Afghanistan, where there are more foreigners on the battlefield, NATO said. It is up to the international community to put pressure on Pakistan to root out the "cause" of the unrest, with NATO’s military force not able to pursue militants over the border, spokesman Captain Mike Finney told reporters. "There is also evidence that the activities increased by some 40 per cent since... tribal areas became unregulated following the negotiations between the Pakistan government and Baitullah Mehsud," he said.

July 31

Fresh fighting erupted between SFs and Taliban militants in the Swat valley of the NWFP, leaving 13 civilians and approximately 20 militants dead. Residents said shells hit a house in the Deolai area, killing five children and their parents, including two women. Officials said it was not clear if the munitions were fired by security forces or militants. In separate incidents, five civilians were killed in shelling, they said, adding that a total of 25 people were also wounded in the fighting. A senior security official said that 45 militants had been killed in fighting over the past two days. The overall death toll reached 63 that included five troops, he said.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said US concerns about collusion between members of Pakistan’s intelligence agency and terrorists are being taken seriously and "will be resolved", according to a report in The Washington Times. Gilani told the newspaper that he had seen no evidence to support allegations that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is compromised. Asked whether he was confident that the ISI contained no pockets of Taliban sympathy, Gilani said, "I’m pretty sure about it." He however added, "We still have to look into [the accusations]. ... It will be resolved."

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) dismissed as baseless a statement made by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior, Rehman Malik, in which he had said that TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud had connections with India. The TTP said Malik’s statement was absolutely unfounded and that it was an attempt to malign the Taliban. Talking to the media from an undisclosed location, TTP spokesman Maulvi Umer said Malik’s statement alleging that the Taliban had links with India and were getting financial assistance from the country was deplorable and silly and was not based on facts.

August 1: An unnamed security official told AFP that troops continued to target suspected militant positions in the Swat valley of the NWFP. According to Geo News, approximately 103 people, including 58 Taliban militants, 30 civilians and more than 12 SF personnel, have been killed in the ongoing operation thus far. Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told PTV that the repeated peace pact violations had forced them to take action.

Pakistan rejected a report that the United States had accused its main intelligence agency - the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) - of helping to plan a bombing at India’s embassy in Kabul on July 7, 2008. Citing unnamed officials, The New York Times said intercepted communications had provided clear evidence that the ISI was involved in the suicide attack on the Indian mission, which killed around 41 persons. "It’s rubbish. We totally deny it," Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said. "This is a baseless allegation that the New York Times keeps on recycling using anonymous sources. These stories always die afterwards because there is no proof," Sadiq said in Colombo in Sri Lanka.

August 2

Eight police personnel were killed and five others wounded when a remote-controlled bomb exploded near their vehicle in the Kabal town of Swat district in the NWFP. Officials said the police party was returning to base after a search operation in Kabal when the bomb planted by militants exploded. Following the attack, security forces reportedly surrounded the Hazara village and arrested six suspects.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani assured his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, that Islamabad would independently investigate the terrorist attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul which killed 60 people, including four Indians. Gilani said he would interact with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to "get to the root" of the case. Gilani also reportedly told Dr. Singh that Islamabad considered the cease-fire along the Line of Control (LoC) the most important confidence building measure in the effort towards improvement of relations.

August 3

At least 30 militants and a security official were killed on the fifth day of the ongoing military operations in the Swat district of the NWFP. An ISPR statement said however that a trooper and 15 militants were killed. Officials said the militants were killed in the Sech Banr area of the Matta sub-division. Locals said that four SF personnel were killed in a rocket attack on a security post in Matta’s Kala Kot area.

Al Qaeda confirmed in a web statement the death of a senior commander known as an explosives expert, who is believed to have been killed in a US air strike in Pakistan last week. The statement said Abu Khabab Al-Masri and three other commanders were killed. It did not give details on when or how they were killed, but Pakistani authorities have said they believe Al-Masri died in an American air strike on July 28 on a compound near the Afghan border. Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant whose real name is Midhat Mursi, had a $5 million bounty on his head from the United States. He is accused of training militants to use poisons and explosives, and is believed to have trained suicide bombers who killed 17 American sailors on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000. He is also believed to have helped run al Qaeda’s Darunta training camp in eastern Afghanistan, until the camp was abandoned amid the 2001 US invasion of the country.

Afghanistan accepted Pakistan’s offer to resume talks which the former had boycotted after accusing its neighbour of being behind a series of terrorist attacks. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reportedly held discussions on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Summit in Colombo.

Karachi holds great significance for the Taliban movement, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Maulvi Umar said. In an interview with BBC Urdu, Umar said that Taliban aim to establish themselves in the port capital to "end vulgarity in the city". He further said that foreign enemies were "setting their sight at Karachi", as it has become country’s economic lifeline. Taliban’s presence in Karachi will make it safe and bring peace to the city, he claimed. Umar also said the Taliban were present everywhere in the country and were the real heirs of Pakistan.

August 5: Highly-motivated ‘boys and girls’ are eager to mount suicide attacks all over the country, including Karachi, targeting high-profile Government functionaries, according to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Addressing a press conference in Anayat Kalley in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA, the TTP deputy chief Maulana Faqir Mohammad and spokesman Maulvi Omar said that a ‘Fidayeen Squad’, comprising 10- to 20-year-old boys and girls, was ready to carry out the attacks if the Government did not immediately stop the operation in Swat in the NWFP and did not reverse its decision to launch military operation in other tribal areas.

US authorities have formally acknowledged arresting Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist, five years after her mysterious disappearance in Karachi. Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mark J. Mershon, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Raymond W. Kelly, Police Commissioner of the City of New York, announced the arrest of Aafia Siddiqui on charges related to her attempted murder and assault of United States officers and employees in Afghanistan.

August 6

Commander Ali Bakht, a close aide of Maulana Fazlullah, and 13 other militants were killed in the Swat district of the NWFP. Major Farooq of the Army Media Centre in Swat informed Dawn that nine top militants, including Ali Bakht and Fazal Wadood, had been killed during an operation in the Deolai area of Kabal sub-division early in the morning. Two security force (SF) personnel and an unspecified number of militants were injured in an exchange of fire. A militant, identified as Fazal Rahim, was arrested. The SFs also blew up the houses of Ali Bakht and local commander Fazalur Rehman during the operation.

Five civilians were killed and four others sustained injuries when a remote-controlled device exploded in the crowded Liaquat Bazaar in Sibi in Balochistan. Sources said the explosion occurred minutes after a vehicle of the security forces passed by the incident site. "It was a remote-controlled bomb fixed to a bike in the main bazaar of Sibi," local police officer Muhammad Hussain said.

Four persons were killed when clashes resumed between the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) and the Ansar-ul-Islam (AI) after two weeks of lull in the remote Tirah valley of the Khyber Agency in the FATA. "Four fighters of LI were killed and several injured in the attack," sources said, adding the group was also forced to vacate a post in Sandapal area. A leader of the AI, Qari Ezatullah, claimed that five men of the rival group were killed and 12 ‘seized’ while three important posts were also captured in the fighting.

Afghanistan’s intelligence agency alleged that a member of Pakistan’s consulate in the country’s south helped a Taliban commander in his attempts to weaken the Government. The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a statement that a diplomat at the consulate in Kandahar gave "orders and money" to Mullah Rahmatullah, a Taliban militant in the region. Rahmatullah was arrested by Afghan intelligence agents on August 5 in Kandahar city, and the information linking the official with the militants was gleaned during the questioning, the NDS said in a statement, which did not name the diplomat.

August 7

Hundreds of Taliban militants attacked a security check-post near the Afghan border late on August 6, sparking fierce clashes in which up to 10 soldiers and 25 militants were killed, officials said on August 7. The security forces (SFs) had deployed a large force at Loyesam, 12 kilometers from Khar, headquarters of the Bajaur Agency in FATA, in a bid to reclaim important nearby Taliban strongholds. A Frontier Corps officer told AFP that 300-400 militants armed with AK-47 assault rifles, rocket launchers and grenades, participated in the attack.

Five troops were killed and several others injured when three roadside bombs hit a convoy of the SFs near Rashakai area, some 8kms from Khar in Bajaur.

Taliban militants beheaded a young man allegedly for "spying" and shot dead three others as SFs arrested five suspected militants in the Swat district of the NWFP during an operation.

After three days of dialogue, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led ruling coalition announced that it had decided to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, warning that any move by him to fight back by dissolving Parliament would be rejected by the nation. A joint declaration drafted by the PPP and its main ally, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), and accepted by other partners in the coalition, listed the reasons for the move.

August 8

More than 70 Taliban militants were killed and 60 others sustained injuries in a gun-battle between militants and the SFs in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA. Seven paramilitary troops also died in clashes near the Afghan border, as helicopter gun-ships and mortars targeted militants’ hideouts in the Rashakai and Tank Khata areas. "Intense firing again started at 8am at Loisam, Omari and Nawagai areas where a large number of armed Taliban are attacking security forces," an unnamed security official told AFP.

Militants beheaded two men and shot dead another in Bajaur Agency after accusing them of spying on them. The bodies of three men were found dumped by a road at Kayrala village, with notes saying, "These people were spying on Taliban," said a local Government official. Witnesses said that two had their heads severed and the third was killed by a gunshot.

At least 10 people were killed and 17 others sustained injuries as clashes between the Lashkar-e-Islam and its rival Ansar-ul-Islam continued for the second day in the Bilyamen area of Lower Kurram in the FATA.

August 9

Militants shot dead eight policemen near Swat in the NWFP. "A group of ten armed militants attacked a police checkpost in Buner and shot dead eight police officials deployed there," police official Sardar Hameed told AFP. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the killings. "Our men attacked the checkpost and shot dead police officials… We will continue targeting all those police officials who are taking part in the ongoing military operation against us," he told reporters in Mingora, the main town in Swat.

Paramilitary troops retreated from the Loyesam area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA, three days after an attempt to recapture the Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border. Loyesam lies on the strategically important road leading towards Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. About 200 Frontier Corps (FC) troops were deployed on August 6 to set up check-posts near the Afghan border, prompting "tough resistance" from the militants. A press statement from the FC headquarters in Peshawar said six soldiers were killed and 15 injured after the paramilitary troops broke a Taliban siege and reached Khar, the agency headquarters.

Anyone voting for President Pervez Musharraf in the forthcoming impeachment motion would be the next target for the Swat-based Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). TTP spokesman Muslim Khan said that Musharraf was responsible for the present spate of violence in the FATA and NWFP. Khan alleged that the president was intent upon "destroying Islam and Pashtuns at the behest of his American masters".

August 10

At least seven persons were killed and more than 20 injured in fighting between the militants and SFs in the Bajaur Agency, as Taliban occupied a 15-kilometre stretch of land from agency headquarters Khar to the Jaar area. Fighter aircraft and helicopter gun-ships targeted militant hideouts in the agency after paramilitary troops withdrew from the Taliban stronghold of Loyesam following three days of fierce clashes. Two helicopters and two fighter jets targeted Taliban hideouts in Loyesam, Bando, Rashakai, Tang, Jaar, Haji Lawang, Yousafabad and Charmang areas until 4pm (PST). Approximately 40 houses were destroyed during the bombing. Taliban militants reportedly attacked the bombers with anti-aircraft guns in the Carela and Tang Khata areas.

Islamic extremists who trained at terrorist camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan may be plotting attacks in Germany, the head of the German federal crime office said. Joerg Ziercke, head of the Bundeskriminalamt — Germany’s FBI equivalent — told the daily Tagesspiegel that some 50 aspiring militants from Germany had been trained in camps run by al Qaeda, the Taliban or the Islamic Jihad Union. "In light of statements from al Qaeda and (the Islamic Jihad Union), we are certain that a decision has been made to conduct attacks in Germany," Ziercke was quoted as saying in the interview.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Zardari has accused President Pervez Musharraf of misappropriating millions of dollars of United States aid given to Pakistan for supporting the war on terror. Zardari made the charge in an interview published in The Sunday Times. "Our grand old Musharraf has not been passing on all the $1 billion a year that the Americans have been giving for the armed forces," he claimed. "The army has been getting $250m-$300m reimbursement for what they do, but where’s the rest? They claim it’s been going in budget support but that’s not the answer. We’re talking about $700m a year missing. The rest has been taken by Musharraf for some scheme or other and we’ve got to find it," Zardari said.

August 11

Security forces killed approximately 50 Taliban militants in fresh clashes in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA, taking the death toll to nearly 160 in five days of fighting. "Helicopter gun-ships pounded positions of the militants in Bajaur and killed about 50 of them," an unnamed security official told Reuters. "Some of the bombs dropped by jets on suspected militants’ hideouts in Tauheedabad and Damadola villages also hit many houses killing six civilians and wounding 12 others," the security official told AFP. Civilian casualties were also reported in the Charmang area of Bajaur and the Manja area of Khar. According to The News, at least 13 members of a family, including women and children, were killed as a result of bombing at an unnamed village in the Bajaur Agency.

Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is helping the Taliban to pursue an insurgency in Afghanistan that has seen a 50 per cent increase in attacks in some areas in 2008, the NATO commander said. The number of foreign fighters, including Europeans, is also increasing in Afghanistan while NATO’s International Security Assistance Force still lacks the soldiers it needs, US General David D. McKiernan said in a weekend interview. "There certainly is a level of ISI complicity in the militant areas in Pakistan and organisations such as the Taliban," the general said. According to him, "I can’t say to what level of leadership that goes to but there are indications of complicity on the part of ISI... to the extent that they are facilitating these militant groups that come out of the tribal areas in Pakistan."

Members of the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution against President Pervez Musharraf asking him to get a vote of confidence. 321 members of the total 369 are reported to have voted in favour of the resolution while only 25 opposed it. Twenty-three members abstained.

August 12

A senior al Qaeda operative and 17 other militants were killed and several others sustained injuries when low-flying helicopters bombed their positions in the Bajaur Agency. Sources said Abu Saeed al-Masri alias Mustafa Mohammad Ahmad was killed in the air strike. The Egyptian-born Abu Saeed was reported to be a senior member of the Majlis-i-Shura and financial chief of al Qaeda. They said that Cobra helicopters precisely targeted militants’ positions in Shahnari, Haji Lawang, Ragha Dagg and Takht areas where security forces had been using air power since August 8. The helicopters attacked militants’ hideouts in Shahnari, killing 13 Taliban militants. They also hit four vehicles in Takht, killing five militants and injuring three others.

Six Pakistan Air Force (PAF) personnel and seven civilians were killed and 14 persons were wounded when a car bomb exploded near a bridge on the main Peshawar-Kohat Road in the southern part of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. The explosion occurred when a van carrying PAF personnel was going from the Badbher PAF base to Peshawar. According to BBC, Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was in response to military operations against militants in the Bajaur Agency. "It is an open war between us and them," he told The Associated Press.

The Jaish-e-Islami threatened to carry out bombings across Pakistan if the Government did not stop operations in Swat and the Tribal Areas.

August 13

Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft and military gunship helicopters continued targeting suspected hideouts of militants in the Bajaur Agency, killing 21 more people, including three civilians, and injuring several others. Official and tribal sources said that fighter aircraft and the Pakistan Army Cobra gunship choppers heavily bombarded suspected militant positions and hideouts in various parts of Bajaur Agency, including Pashat, Naraza and Mulla Said Banda in Salarzai sub-division and Inam Khwaro and Damadola in the Mamond sub-division. The officials claimed 12 militants were killed in the air strikes. In Jar Kalley of Utmankhel sub-division, a group of militants sitting on the roadside to target the troops through IEDs were targeted by gunship choppers that killed six militants. In Pashat village, three tribesmen, including an elder, were killed when his house came under attack from a warplane.

12 militants, including three Turkmen, some Arabs and Waziri tribal fighters, were killed and several others injured when an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fired four Hellfire missiles on Shnawana village in South Waziristan (SW), along the border with Afghanistan on August 12-night.

A suicide blast in Lahore killed at least nine persons and injured more than 35, targeting policemen standing guard on the eve of the Independence Day. The attack took place at the busy Dubai Chowk in the Allama Iqbal Town area at about 11:34pm, as citizens poured into the streets before midnight to celebrate the 61st anniversary of Pakistan’s independence, which falls on August 14. Among the dead were two policemen and a woman.

Villagers killed six members of a militant group in the Dara Shalbandi area of Buner district. Witnesses said that the villagers had surrounded the six militants and asked them to surrender. But the militants demanded safe passage and one of them hurled a grenade on the villagers to break the siege. The villagers subsequently opened fire, killing the militants four of whom were identified as Azeem Khan, Usman Ghani, Behran and Rahman Said.

The Sindh Assembly adopted unanimously a resolution calling upon President Pervez Musharraf to take a vote of confidence from his electoral college or resign immediately. "In case he fails to get the vote of confidence the assembly urges parliament to give notice of impeachment in accordance with Article 47 of the Constitution," the resolution reads. Members belonging to the opposition - comprising Pakistan Muslim League-F, PML-Q and the National People’s Party - and ruling coalition partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement were absent from the house.

August 14

Amid reports of the killing of prominent militant Taliban commander Maulana Faqir Mohammad in Bajaur Agency, the SFs intensified the ongoing military operation against the militants in the area, killing 33 more Taliban militants. Military officials in Bajaur said two vehicles carrying important Taliban commanders, including their regional chief Maulana Faqir Mohammad and his close associates, were targeted in Damadola. 11 militants were reportedly killed in this attack. Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar confirmed the air attack on a double-cabin pick-up truck of Maulana Faqir, saying the vehicle was badly damaged. However, he said Faqir Mohammad remained unscathed in the attack, as he had just alighted from the vehicle.

Four gunship helicopters continued targeting militants’ suspected hideouts in their strongholds in Seway, Mamond, Mulla Said Banda, and Utmankhel sub-division. According to military officials, 22 suspected militants were killed and several others injured when gunship choppers targeted a Madrassa (seminary) run by chief of the Bajaur Agency unit of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) and Taliban commander Maulana Mohammad Munir at Seway in Mamond sub-division.

People in Bajaur said 10 people were killed when artillery shells hit two houses in the Kass and Sheenkotai areas of Mamond sub-division late on August 13-night, Dawn reported. Four houses were damaged in Kass, 30kms northeast of Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency.

At least six pro-government Bugti tribesmen, including a former commander of Nawab Bugti, were killed and three others were injured when a landmine exploded in the Loti area of Dera Bugti district of Balochistan. Wadera Fazil Shabani Bugti, a renegade commander of Nawab Akbar Bugti, was going to Sui after attending an Independence Day function in Loti gas field along with eight other tribesmen when the blast occurred.

Three persons, including a woman and her nephew, were killed in crossfire between the security forces and militants in the Kabal sub-division of Swat district in the NWFP. Sources said that Taliban militants also killed a man, Umer Ali, on the charge of spreading propaganda against the Taliban in the Kabal Bazaar.

August 15

At least 35 persons were killed when helicopter gun-ships attacked militants in several areas of the Bajaur Agency. Sources said the militants’ headquarters at Savei in the Mamond sub-division was heavily bombed, killing 11 people. The building housed a so-called ‘Sharia court,’ a private jail and a store of weapons and ammunition. In another attack, the office of the local Taliban in a seminary was hit. The Taliban had installed an FM radio station at the seminary run by Maulvi Muneer. Witnesses said that militants attacked helicopters with anti-aircraft guns in Saddiqabad near Khar. At least five of the assailants were killed when the helicopters retaliated. In Mamond, at least 10 militants were killed and 12 others wounded.

August 16

The SFs hit two vehicles in the Salarzai area of Bajaur Agency, killing 14 militants. Three children were killed when a mortar shell missed its target and hit a house in the Cheengai village in Damadola. Meanwhile, gunship choppers targeted hideouts and locations of the militants in the Loisam and Mamond areas. The SFs in Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency, also fired artillery and mortar shells on suspected locations of the Taliban. Sources said two militants were killed when a mortar shell hit a roadside post manned by the armed Taliban at Lagharay in Mamond sub-division. Similarly, two unidentified bodies were recovered from the main road in Utmankhel.

Seven suspected militants were killed when artillery shells were fired on their position on Khaza Ghar mountains in Mamond. Militants had reportedly taken refuge in caves and bunkers in the mountain and were using the route for crossing into the adjoining Dir district from the Bajaur Agency.

Nine militants and a civilian were killed and several other people injured when SFs, backed by artillery and helicopter gun-ships, attacked Taliban’s positions in the Koza Bandai, Damghar and Dheri areas of Swat district in the NWFP. The SFs also targeted militants in Deolai, Kabal Khas, Kala Kalley and other areas of the Kabal sub-division.

August 17

Five persons, including a woman and a police constable, were killed and 20 others injured as violence continued in parts of the Swat district of the NWFP. Sources said six cattle heads also perished and a number of houses were destroyed in artillery shelling and firing while militants set ablaze a girls’ middle school, a boys’ primary school, a health centre and a barber shop in different localities of the valley.

Four militants were killed when three Pakistan Army gunship helicopters targeted Taliban militants in the Bajaur Agency. Military sources said two militants riding a motorcycle in Inayat Killay Bypass Road were targeted by the military chopper and killed on the spot. In the same area, local tribal sources said military choppers hit a petrol pump and razed it to the ground. Military authorities suspected that militants operating in the adjoining Mamond and Inayat Killay were getting fuel from the petrol pump. Similarly, military sources said two militants were killed when a chopper fired on Haji Lawang bridge in the Utmankhel sub-division.

People in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) held protests to press authorities to purge the area of militants, fearing that the activities of the militants could disturb the prevailing cease-fire along the Line of Control (LoC). Residents of the Neelam Valley in PoK shut shops and staged a demonstration to protest against the presence of militants who carry out attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. It was the second such protest in Neelam Valley in one-and-half months, BBC Urdu Service reported.

The United States said that it was not considering any proposal to grant political asylum to President Pervez Musharraf. "That’s not an issue on the table," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when asked if the Bush administration was considering any proposal to grant political asylum to Musharraf.

August 18

President Pervez Musharraf on August 18 announced his resignation ahead of a threatened impeachment by the ruling coalition. In a farewell address to the nation, General (retired) Musharraf said he was going not because he was scared of a possible impeachment but because he wanted to spare the country the instability and uncertainty the proceedings would bring. "This is not the time for individual bravado. This is the time for serious reflection. Whether I win or lose, the nation will lose in every way. It will be a blow to the dignity of the nation and to the office of the President… Therefore, after consultations with all my advisers and friends, for the sake of the country, I announce my decision to step down from the office of President," he said.

Seven persons, including two children, were killed and nine others sustained injuries when gunship helicopters attacked suspected militant positions in the Jar, Mulla Kali, Haji Lawang, Banda, Salarzai and Damadola areas of Bajaur Agency. The helicopters reportedly hit the house of one Pinda Khan in Nawagai near the Afghan border, killing the two children. Local people said that five other people were killed in the attack. They also said that a local militant commander had also been killed, but it was not confirmed by independent sources.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said they were willing to hold negotiations with the Government and halt militant activities if military operations were stopped in the NWFP and the FATA. TTP spokesman Maulvi Umar told reporters that the Taliban welcomed General (retired) Pervez Musharraf’s resignation from the office of president, and were ready to resolve issues by holding talks with the Government. According to Umar, TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud contacted the TTP Shura (executive council) members after Musharraf's resignation and all of them assured to stop militant activities and hold peace talks with the Government provided "the government guaranteed that it would stop pro-US policies adopted by the former military dictator."

August 19

32 persons, including seven policemen, were killed and 55 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the emergency ward of the District Headquarters Hospital in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP. The attack was carried out when a large number of people had gathered there to protest against the murder of the local Shia leader Basit Ali earlier in the day. Attacked by a gunman near the Faqirni Gate, he was brought to the hospital where he died. Police said the 20 year-old suicide bomber blew himself up in the presence of police personnel who were trying to control the crowd. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack. TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar told Dawn they had targeted police and other Government officials and "did not intend to attack any specific religious sect (the Shia)." He said suicide attacks would continue till the military operations in Bajaur and Swat were stopped.

25 militants and five soldiers were killed in clashes following a Taliban attack on a scouts’ camp in the Bajaur Agency. Three civilians were killed in air strikes, sources said. Assistant Political Agent Mohammad Jamil said that militants attacked the Bajaur Scouts camp in Nawagai area at about 11pm on August 18 and the heavy exchange of fire continued till 4am the next day. He said 15 militants and five soldiers were killed while three soldiers sustained injuries. However, local people said that 25 militants had been killed.

Suspected insurgents shot dead five Government officials nearly two weeks after they were abducted in Balochistan, police said on August 19, Daily Times reported. "The officials were all shot dead. Their bodies were found dumped in a mountainous area" in the town of Chatthar.

Aabid Khan, Sultan Muhammad and Hammad Munshi, all three Britons of Pakistani origin, were sentenced by a British court to serve varying prison terms for possessing or preparing documents promoting terrorism.

The Chinese Government detained 35 Pakistanis visiting China that they suspect of planning to attack proceedings of the Olympic Games, Daily Times reported. China has asked the Pakistani Government for details of the arrested in a letter that alleged 35 suspected Pakistani militants had arrived in China to attack proceedings at the Games.

August 20

Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft and Army gunship helicopters continued bombing suspected militant hideouts in the Bajaur Agency, killing three more persons and destroying a number of houses.

In addition, 14 militants were killed when the security forces repulsed a Taliban attack.

SFs fired artillery and mortar shells from the Bajaur Scouts headquarters in Khar towards suspected Taliban positions in Nawagai, Mamond and Salarzai. Artillery and mortar shelling was also directed at Inayet Kali. However, there were no details about the losses suffered by the militants.

The Frontier Corps (FC) killed about 15 Taliban militants in the Kurram Agency. The FC was directed to launch the operation after all efforts for a cease-fire between the warring factions in the Agency failed, said a press release issued by the Interior Ministry in Islamabad. The statement said a jirga (council) from Hangu was dispatched to Kurram Agency to establish a truce between the warring factions. However, both sides violated the cease-fire and the FC was directed to establish the writ of the Government. The press release said that on August 19-night, between 300 to 400 Taliban militants attacked an FC post at Matak. The troops repelled the attack, inflicting heavy casualties on the militants.

12 persons, most of them alleged foreign fighters, were killed and five others sustained injuries when a US Predator fired two Hellfire missiles on a house in the Zari Noor village of South Waziristan. Military Spokesman Major General Athar Abbas confirmed the incident but said he would not confirm whether it was a missile or rocket attack. He said he had heard that 8-12 people had been killed in the explosions. The military spokesman, however, denied reports that a US Predator had fired Hellfire missiles on the Pakistani territory.

An Afghan national was killed for his alleged ‘spying’ for American forces while a kidnapped non-commissioned officer of security forces was set free in the Mohmand Agency. The Afghan national, identified as Abdul Qayyum, was shot dead by Taliban militants in the border village Kodakhel on the charges that he was spying for the US and its allied forces in Afghanistan. A note found with his body said that those spying for American forces would meet the same fate. Further, the militants also freed a security forces officer, identified as Khalilur Rehman, who was kidnapped from the area in January 2008.

Four Taliban militants were killed and another was injured in a clash between tribesmen and militants in Khyber Agency’s Bara sub-division. The clash, in which heavy weapons were used, erupted when the tribesmen tried to stop a car carrying Taliban militants in the Malik Dinkhel area. The militants opened fire at the tribesmen, who retaliated with rocket fire and killed four militants and injured another.

August 21

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gates of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in the high security cantonment town of Wah, around 30 kilometers from capital Islamabad, killing at least 70 persons in what was described as the deadliest attack on a military installation in the country’s history. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. The POF at Wah is a cluster of about 20 industrial units producing artillery, tank and anti-aircraft ammunition for the Pakistani armed forces. It employs around 25,000 to 30,000 workers.

Sixteen more people, including 10 militants and six civilians, were killed in mortar and artillery shelling by the security forces in the Bajaur Agency.

The paramilitary Bajaur Scouts shelled militant locations in their strongholds - Mamond and Salarzai subdivisions - inflicting heavy losses on the Taliban. Two militants were killed at Safarey village when a house they were staying in was hit by an artillery shell. Sources from the militant stronghold in Mamond said that forces from the Bajaur Scouts headquarters in Khar continuously fired mortar and artillery shells on Mulla Said Banda, Safarey, Katkay, Bandaray and adjoining small villages reportedly inhabited by the militants. Several houses were damaged in the overnight shelling.

The paramilitary forces fired artillery shells at militant hideouts in various parts of Salarzai, killing five militants.

Four persons - two women and two children - were killed in Mulla Said Banda in artillery shelling, causing damage to several houses.

Five persons, including three Taliban militants and two children, died in artillery firing on Kach village of Salarzai.

The deputy chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Maulana Faqir Mohammad, offered to stop fighting if the security forces halted bombing and mortar and artillery shelling on residential areas of the tribal region.

August 22

A civilian was killed and eight others sustained injuries when SFs targeted the hideouts of suspected Taliban militants in the Haji Lawang area of Bajaur Agency. Locals said that some houses were destroyed and others damaged in heavy shelling by the security forces on the 17^th day of military operations.

Official sources in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan, said militants loyal to Maulvi Nazir fired rockets at the Tiarzah Fort injuring a paramilitary soldier. Seven militants were reportedly wounded when security forces retaliated, local administration officials said. The attack on the fort came hours after NATO forces – in an operation co-ordinated with Pakistani forces – "fired multiple artillery rounds into Pakistan," the International Security Assistance Force statement said.

August 23

Five members of a family were killed and six wounded when a mortar shell hit a residential compound near Khar in the Bajaur Agency. Local people said the shell fired by security forces landed in the house of one Qasim Jan at about 2:30 pm. The attack triggered fear among people and tribesmen again started vacating their houses. Some families had recently returned to their homes. Officials said that over 200,000 people had been displaced because of the conflict in Bajaur. The International Committee of the Red Cross has said that about 14,000 displaced people have moved from the agency to Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

The Taliban militants killed two tribesmen for allegedly spying for the United States in North Waziristan. "They were working as ‘spies’ for America," a letter found with the two bullet-ridden bodies read. Residents said the bodies were found early on August 23 near a roadside in Dosali sub-division, 40 kilometers south of Miranshah.

August 24

Militants belonging to the pro-government Taliban commander Maulvi Nazeer clashed with the SFs in South Waziristan (SW) and five militants were killed and two sustained injuries. Three SF personnel were also injured in these clashes even as the fighting spread to Dray Nishtar, Sholam, Dana and Patay and the two sides used mortars guns, rocket-launchers and other heavy weapons.

Reports said the SFs fired artillery shells at the militants’ positions in Dana, 10 kilometers west of Wana, the headquarters of SW. They were retaliating against the militants, who in the early hours of August 24 attacked a post of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Zam Cheena, 25 kilometers west of Wana, with rocket-launchers and other sophisticated weapons and caused injuries to three soldiers.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced a cease-fire in Bajaur Agency "after a request from tribal elders" and said they would initiate a dialogue with the Government. "We have directed our militants to stop attacks against the government and security forces in Bajaur from today," Maulvi Omar, TTP spokesman told AFP. He said, "The jirga (elders’ council) insisted that Taliban should stop fighting in the interest of the people of Bajaur." The jirga has "assured" the Taliban that troops will also suspend shelling and bombing raids in the area, he added. "We are ready for talks with the Government and the truce is an important development towards dialogue," Omar stated.

August 25

Gunship helicopters killed five militants while shelling militant hideouts in the Bajaur Agency near the Afghan border. "Helicopters gunships shelled militant hideouts in several villages in Bajaur Agency, which left five militants killed and 10 injured," an unnamed security official said.

The local Taliban led by pro-government militant commander Maulvi Nazir announced a unilateral cease-fire after fierce clashes with security forces in South Waziristan. Militant sources said a Jirga (council) of Ahmadzai Wazir tribal elders held an emergency meeting with Political Agent Syed Shahab Ali Shah and informed him of the frequent violation of Pakistan's airspace by the US spy planes and carrying out air strikes in the Agency, killing innocent tribesmen in the name of al Qaeda. The Jirga assured the Political Agent of their co-operation in maintaining law and order in the area and convinced the official that in future Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen would refrain from attacking the security forces.

August 27

Troops killed at least 50 militants, including some foreign fighters, in the Bajaur Agency. SFs targeted militants holed up in a health centre, killing 30 of them and wounding many more, military spokesman Major Murad Khan told AP.

In another clash, helicopter gun-ships and aircraft targeted militant hideouts in the Loyesam, Charmang and Ghonday areas of agency headquarters Khar, and Rahgan, Aupusht and Dherai area of Salarzai sub-division, killing eight militants and injuring 12 others.

23 Taliban militants and two soldiers were killed, while 20 militants and seven soldiers were injured after clashes broke out in different areas of South Waziristan. Sources said that the Taliban attacked a check-post in Tiarza, three kilometers off Wana on August 26-night. The security forces (SFs) countered the attack, killing 11 militants and injuring 20 others. Fierce fighting between the two sides reportedly continued throughout August 27. Two soldiers were killed and seven others sustained injuries when the Taliban attacked three army vehicles near Wana bazaar in the evening. Fighting was intensified in different areas after the attack on the army convoy. Sources added that 12 more militants were killed in the clashes. Further, a woman and a man were killed after a mortar shell hit their house.

Ahmadullah Ahmadi, a spokesman for the militant group of Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Maulvi Nazir, said that the Taliban had declared a unilateral cease-fire till August 30 in the tribal area. He said that they would not violate the truce without provocation.

August 28

The SFs killed 23 militants and injured more than a dozen in the Bara Bandai and Koza Bandai areas of Kabal sub-division in the Swat district of NWFP, while seven civilians died in shelling and incidents of violence.

Ten persons, including seven police officials and three civilians, were killed and 16 others injured when a powerful car bomb ripped through a prisoners van of the Bannu police on the Kurram Tangi Bridge on the Bannu-Kohat Road in Bannu in the NWFP. Police officials said the police van was en route to the Bannu Central Prison on the Bannu-Kohat Road from where it was supposed to carry prisoners to court.

SFs killed five militants in fresh attacks on suspected locations in the Salarzai sub-division of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. The SFs targeted locations in the Derakai, Raghagan, Ghakhay and Chawatra localities of Salarzai, killing the five militants. Sources said tribesmen killed a militant and captured five others in the Pashat area.

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik has announced that names of all political leaders of Balochistan have been removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) and 35 checkpoints of the Frontier Corps in the province are being abolished, Dawn reported. Addressing a press conference, along with Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani and provincial ministers at the end of a two-day visit to provincial capital Quetta, he said the steps were being taken as part of the Government’s reconciliation process. "The name of Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri’s son Nawabzada Gazin Marri has been removed from the ECL and a new passport has been issued to him," the adviser said.

August 29

At least 25 militants, including two Taliban commanders, were killed in an air strike on militant hideouts in the Swat valley of the NWFP. A private jail and an ammunition depot of militants were among the air strike targets. A military spokesman in Swat told AFP that "a core of militants" had perished in the operation. "Their command and communications structure has also been destroyed. This was their key area where they had set up ammunition depots, which were also demolished… This strike was carried out after intelligence that top Taliban cleric Mullah Fazlullah was hiding there," the security official said, but he was unable to confirm if the main target was among the dead.

Five persons were killed and 44 others, including 35 SF personnel, were wounded when an explosives-laden vehicle blew up after its driver was shot dead by the paramilitary Frontier Corps FC soldiers in the Darra Adamkhel town of NWFP. According to official sources, the vehicle being driven by a would-be suicide bomber was on its way to hit the Orakzai Scouts check-post near Pakistan-Japan Friendship Tunnel at Darra Adamkhel.

Three suspected militants were killed and seven others sustained injuries when SFs backed by artillery and helicopter gun-ships targeted the Malkana, Chothra, Ghakhi and Berakai areas in Bajaur Agency with mortar and canon shells.

August 30

40 militants were killed in an air strike targeting a militants’ stronghold in Swat in the NWFP. Fighter jets are reported to have bombed hideouts in the Peochar valley, a stronghold of top Taliban cleric Mullah Fazlullah. Army spokesman Major Nasir Ali said the dead included two senior commanders loyal to Fazlullah. Local officials said Fazlullah escaped the attack but his group suffered ‘massive damage’. Ali said the group’s ‘core militants’ were killed and its communication network destroyed in the operation.

At least five militants were killed and four others were injured in a missile strike on a house in South Waziristan. The missile, which targeted the house of Noor Khan Wazir, is said to have been fired from an aircraft. Reports indicated that at least two foreigners were among the dead.

A house came under attack in South Waziristan and four persons, including two Canadians of Arab origin, were killed.

The military operation in the FATA will be suspended on August 31 in view of the holy month of Ramazan, said Interior Adviser Rehman Malik. But he said the military would respond ‘with full force’ if it were attacked. "It is not a ceasefire… If they fire a single bullet we will respond with 10 bullets," he said while talking to reporters in Lahore.

August 31

Six people were killed and eight others sustained injuries in a missile attack on a residential compound in Ghundi village of North Waziristan. It was not clear if the missile had been fired from a US drone, but some local people reported seeing an unmanned aircraft flying over the area. According to AFP, most of the dead were foreign militants, including Arabs and Uzbeks. This was the fourth missile attack in the tribal region during August.

September 1

At least nine persons were killed and 52 others injured as the operation against militants in Darra Adamkhel in the NWFP continued for the fourth consecutive day.

Eight persons were killed when mortar shells hit a house in the Inayet Kali area of Bajaur despite a cease-fire announced by the Government on August 31-night. Security forces (SFs) reportedly launched the attack after receiving information that militants had regrouped near the Bajaur Scouts camp. Local people said that several shells hit the house of one Hanifullah, killing eight people, including women and children. Political authorities, however, said that only two people had been killed.

A tribal lashkar (army) formed to end militancy in Kurram Agency re-took Char Dewal and Jalmai villages, strongholds of the Taliban, while six militants were killed and 26 injured in fresh clashes.

The army claimed that it had routed Taliban militants in Bajaur, killing 560 Pakistani and foreign fighters and foiling a push to make Bajaur into a militant fortress. Major General Athar Abbas, the chief of ISPR, told a western news agency that 20 SF personnel had died and 30 were missing.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior, Rehman Malik, has said that the TTP was a new face of al Qaeda.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has directed all the commercial banks to freeze the bank accounts of the banned TTP.

September 2

15 persons were killed and about 35 others sustained injuries when air force jets and helicopters targeted militants’ hideouts in the Gut and Peuchar areas of Swat valley in the NWFP.

A tribal lashkar (army) is reported to have shot dead six Taliban militants in fresh clashes in various parts of the Kurram Agency in the FATA.

Six shops in Matta bazaar owned by the ruling Awami National Party leader Afzal Khan Lala were also blown up.

The Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, said that military operations in the tribal region and troubled areas of the NWFP had been suspended in reverence for Ramazan.

The Taliban claimed they had kidnapped two Chinese telecommunications engineers and two Pakistanis and that abductions would continue until the Government stopped attacking militants.

September 3

The SFs claimed to have killed about 30 militants and wounded 35 others in a ground assault backed by gunship helicopters in the militants-infested Koza Bandai area of Swat Valley in the NWFP. There were also reports about five civilian casualties, including four women, besides injuries to scores of others. Two SF personnel were reportedly killed and four others sustained injuries.

SFs launched a ground assault in Koza Bandai, the native village of the Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan, at dawn to clear the area of the militants. A Mingora-based military spokesman, Major Nasir Ali, told The News that 25 to 30 militants were killed and 30 to 35 were injured in the attack that was backed by gunship helicopters.

At least 20 people, most of them women and children, were killed in an assault by US-led coalition forces on a village near the Afghan border.

Paramilitary forces killed 20 militants in Darra Adamkhel.

17 militants and nine civilians were killed when security forces, backed by helicopter gunships and artillery, targeted militants’ hideouts in the Koza Bandai area of Swat in the NWFP.

At least four militants were killed and several others injured in attacks by security forces (SFs) on their hideouts in Bajaur Agency.

Unidentified gunmen fired shots at Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s motorcade in a high security zone on the Islamabad Highway. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Around 50 recruits of the Police Training College (PTC) at Hangu in the NWFP were abducted while on their way to the college from provincial capital Peshawar via Khyber Agency.

Taliban would not kill two Chinese engineers and two Pakistanis they have been holding, but they would not release them unless unspecified demands were met, the militants.

Afghan intelligence claimed, it had arrested a Pakistan national who said he was paid by his country’s intelligence agency to help abduct a Japanese aid worker who was later shot dead.

September 4

Six people, including two suspected Arab nationals and four Dawar tribal militants, were killed and four others injured in yet another missile strike by a US Predator on Achar Khel village near Miranshah in North Waziristan.

A German man of Pakistani origin suspected of raising money and recruiting fighters for al Qaeda has been charged with membership in the terrorist group, federal prosecutors said in Berlin.

September 5

Ten persons, including four militants, were killed and several others injured when local people clashed with the Taliban militants in the Mandal Dag area of Matta sub-division in Swat.

Four children were among six civilians killed in a suspected missile attack from an unmanned United States spy plane on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in North Waziristan.

Two civilians were killed and as many injured as the security forces continued their operation against the militants in the Kabal sub-division.

Pakistan stopped supplies to the United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan through its western Torkham border, citing security concerns. The coalition forces also get supplies through the Chaman border in Balochistan, but the bulk of the supplies goes through Torkham – a shorter route for Kabul where the US and NATO forces are based.

September 6

At least 30 persons, including seven policemen, were killed and more than 70 injured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security checkpoint in the outskirts of Peshawar.

24 people were killed in the Matta sub-division of Swat in the NWFP as villagers battled Taliban militants on September 5 and 6 after foiling a kidnap attempt by the Taliban.

The death toll in the suicide bombing in provincial capital Peshawar has increased to 39.

Asif Ali Zardari, husband of Benazir Bhutto, who took over as leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) after her assassination in December 2007, was elected Pakistan’s President.

September 7

Five more persons were killed and 14 others sustained injuries as violence continued in the Swat Valley in NWFP.

The Maulana Fazlullah-led militants in Swat said they would not release the kidnapped Chinese engineers till the release of the arrested Taliban militants.

September 8

Suspected US drones hit the house and seminary of former Taliban commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani in the Dandi Derpakhel area of North Waziristan killing 23 persons, including three Arab and two Azerbaijani nationals among them.

At least 10 militants were killed and 14 civilians injured while several houses were destroyed in shelling by the security forces on Koza Bandai area of Kabal sub-division in the Swat valley in North West Frontier Province.

A woman and two children died on the same day when a mortar shell hit their house in Shago area of Khar.

Police arrested 10 suspected Uzbek-Afghan nationals at Chaman sub-division in Balochistan. They entered Pakistani territory without legal documents and tried to proceed to Quetta and other parts of the country.

Security personnel arrested a teenage boy they claimed was a suicide bomber near a church in the Cantonment area at Nowshera in North West Frontier Province.

A truck carrying huge quantity of explosive material was hijacked along with two riders from Taxila.

Pakistan reopened supply lines to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Afghanistan, after the road through the Khyber Pass was blocked, days after a raid by the US commandos on a Pakistani village.

September 9

Unidentified militants shot dead four members of one family in Qamber-Shahdadkot district in Sindh. They were identified as Ali Haider Magsi, his two wives Arbab Khatoon and Nawab Khatoon, and his grandson Nizamuddin Magsi.

September 10

30 Taliban militants were killed when the troops backed by tanks and heavy artillery attacked the militants in the Rashakai area of Bajaur Agency in FATA said a Frontier Constabulary statement.

At least 25 worshippers were killed and 50 others injured in a grenade-and-gun attack inside a mosque in the Maskanai area of lower Dir in NWFP.

11 militants were killed by the security forces in the Kooza Bandai area of the NWFP, local residents and a military spokesman said.

The missile strike in North Waziristan in the FATA was carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency, claimed two unnamed US officials. Unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials told Associated Press that the four foreigners killed in the strike were Abu Qasim, Abu Musa, Abu Hamza and Abu Haris. However, a Pakistani army spokesman, Maj Murad Khan, said that the military had no information about the identity of the men killed in the ‘explosions’.

Militants in North Waziristan have threatened to target girls’ schools and government offices unless madrassas destroyed in military operations were reconstructed.

The US military will revise its strategy for Afghanistan to include militant ‘safe havens’ in Pakistan in its area of concern, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said.

The US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the Pakistan military and government are focused on the instability in the border region and it is critical to continue to work with the new Pakistan government.

A cease-fire between two sects in the Kurram Agency in FATA was holding, as security forces took positions on both side of the divide.

The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country would be defended at all costs and "no external force is allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan", Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani said.

A Washington Post report said that missile attacks by the US drones in Pakistan have tripled in 2008 after ‘frustrated’ US and Pakistani officials decided to change tactics in the war on terror. Pakistani officials have reported 11 such strikes in FATA this year, the report said, compared with three in 2007.

The US National Intelligence Council (NIC) warned the Bush administration in August that a decision to launch ground attacks inside Pakistan could further destabilise the Pakistani government and the military. Security analysts believe if US commando raids continue beyond a few months they could provoke large-scale defections from the Pakistani Army serving in FATA.

September 11

At least 100 militants, most of them foreigners, were killed and around 25 others injured in the continued military offensive in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.

Eight militants were killed when the security forces (SFs) attacked their hideouts in the Swat valley of NWFP. Six of the militants died when helicopter gun ships fired missiles in the Ningolai Kabal area, hitting the house of local militant commander Khurshid Shah, military spokesman Nadeem Anwar said.

Taliban militants shot dead three pro-government tribesmen accusing the victims of spying against them, officials said.

Six SF personnel were killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near a check-post of the Frontier Corps (FC) at Akhurwal area of the semi-tribal region in the Darra Adamkhel town, claimed militants.

Five people, including four militants, were killed and seven others injured in clashes between rival tribes in the Kurram Agency of FATA.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) killed two of the 30 police recruits kidnapped near Hangu in NWFP a week ago.

Militants killed a police constable and his daughter in the Matta Tehsil (administrative division), adding, the militants opened fire and killed Constable Dost Mohammad Khan and his nine-year old daughter when they were returning home in the Kooza Bamkhela area of Swat district.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Swat said that no shariah law of the NWFP government would be acceptable unless Sufi Muhammad, chief of the banned Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi, approved it.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) granted bail to three Taliban militants whose release was one of the local Taliban’s key demands from the government since they were arrested in July.

The Washington Times in its editorial accused Pakistan of harbouring al Qaeda and placating radical domestic groups.

New York Times quoting senior American officials reports that the US President George W. Bush secretly approved orders in July for the first time allowing American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without prior approval of the Pakistani Government.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that he would ask Pakistan to allow US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) troops in Afghanistan to take a new approach in the hunt for Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants.

Aaj TV quoted Inter-Services Public Relations spokesman Major General Athar Abbas as saying that the Pakistan Army would retaliate against foreign raids on Pakistani territory.

The NATO would not take part in a proposed US strategy to conduct raids into Pakistan from Afghanistan against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, a spokesman James Appathurai.

September 12

At least 85 heavily armed terrorists were killed in an air and land offensive in Bajaur Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a Frontier Corps’ (FC) statement said.

A missile from a suspected United States drone killed 14 people when it hit a house in the outskirts of Miranshah in North Waziristan tribal area in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It was the fourth such strike in a week.

At least 14 terrorists including two key ‘commanders’ were killed and five others were injured during the military operation in the Swat district in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

The United States and Pakistani officials told the Washington Post that new rules of engagement authorising US ground attacks inside Pakistan, signed by President George W. Bush in July 2008, were not agreed to by that country’s civilian government or its military.

Los Angeles Times quoting US military and intelligence officials reports the US is deploying Predator aircraft equipped with sophisticated new surveillance systems to counter terrorism in Pakistan.

September 13

At least 60 militants were killed and 25 injured during clashes with security forces (SFs) in Bajaur Agency in FATA. Six terrorists were killed and five others injured when a helicopter gunship attacked the vehicle carrying them to Mohmand Agency. However, a military spokesman, Major Murad Khan, told the Associate Press, "We killed 72 militants, while eight of our soldiers have died in Bajaur since Wednesday."

Seven suspected militants were killed and several other people injured as military operation in the Koza, Bara and Ser Bandai areas of Swat in NWFP continued. Two security force (SF) personnel also sustained injuries, a statement issued by the Swat media centre said, adding, the SFs backed by artillery and helicopters gunship pounded militant hideouts in the Koza Bandai and Kotlai areas of Kabal Tehsil (administrative unit).

Four people, including three militants, were killed and six others wounded in clashes between warring tribes in the Kurram Agency in FATA.

A two-day cease-fire was announced after talks between a peace committee and terrorists in Swat. The second round of talks between the peace committee and terrorists will be held today.

September 14

At least 30 terrorists were killed and several others injured during military action in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.

About 100 heavily armed terrorists occupied a municipal building in the Regi Lalma area on the outskirts of Peshawar in the NWFP, but fled on the arrival of paramilitary troops without putting up a fight.

Taliban in Swat are likely to release 38 abducted security force (SF) personnel in the next 48 hours.

US military strikes at Taliban and al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan are risky but necessary and were long overdue.

Acting President Dr Fehmida Mirza said Pakistan would resolve the problem of militancy on its own, adding that the government was committed to safeguard the sovereignty and geographical frontiers of the country.

Police said that no terrorist organization occupied a government building in the Regi Lalma area of Peshawar and law-enforcement agencies attended site as a "result of a misunderstanding".

September 15

Helicopter gun ships and fighter jets killed 24 Taliban militants in raids on their hideouts in Bajaur Agency in FATA.

Two United States (US) military helicopters turned back to Afghanistan from the border after shots were fired from the ground, but there were conflicting accounts of the incident.

Foreign attacks on Pakistan’s Tribal Areas are an incursion and all-out efforts would be made to stop such invasions, said Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar.

Troops have been deployed in trenches vacated by warring tribes in the Kurram Agency in FATA, political authorities said.

The law enforcement agencies claimed to have detained three suspected terrorists and recovered 1,000 kilogrammes of explosives in a raid on a Baloch settlement in the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.

September 16

Ten Taliban militants were killed and several others injured when Pakistan Army helicopter gunship and fighter jets fired shells at militant hideouts in Bajaur Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

A suicide bomber and Taliban militants attacked a security check post in the Kabal tehsil (revenue division) of Swat in the NWFP killing three soldiers, a senior official said.

At least three Taliban terrorists were killed and seven others injured in a clash with the security forces (SFs) in the Darra Adam Khel area of NWFP, sources in the Frontier Constabulary said. The clash began when the SFs raided the Zohr Killin area after being informed about the presence of some Taliban there. The sources said troops were pursuing the Taliban who had fled the area.

September 17

At least 19 Taliban militants were killed in the ongoing military operation in different areas of Bajaur Agency in FATA. 40 Taliban were injured in the operation. United States drones were also reportedly seen flying over different areas of Bajaur.

A United States missile strike on a compound used by militants in South Waziristan in FATA killed at least six people and wounded three others.

The SFs took control of the vacated Koza Bandai area of Swat in the FATA. Taliban had vacated the area after an agreement with the local peace committee on September 15-16.

September 18

14 people were killed and 26 others injured in clashes between the warring tribes of the Kurram Agency in FATA.

The SFs killed at least eight Taliban militants and injured several others in an attack on Taliban strongholds in Bajaur Agency in the FATA. Their command and control system was also destroyed. The SFs also arrested five Taliban and shelled their strongholds in the Loyesam, Tang Khata, Kausar, Rashkai and Kerala areas.

Two suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Upper Dir town of NWFP after residents foiled their attempt to take 300 schoolchildren hostage.

Taliban captured a huge cache of weapons and ammunition from police near the Jandukhalay area of Shabqadar tehsil (revenue division) in the Charsadda district.

Local Taliban have evicted around 200 shia families from the Aurakzai Agency who have resettled in Kohat.

The Taliban in Swat in the NWFP released eight more of the 38 SF personnel they had abducted around two months ago.

Three out of seven people killed in US drone attack on the Baghar village of South Waziristan Agency included two Arabs, one of them a senior al-Qaeda commander, and one hailing from the Punjab Province. The two Arabs were identified as Jiran, the al-Qaeda commander, and Sabri while the name of the militant commander from the Punjab could not be ascertained.

September 19

At least 20 people were killed and 18 others sustained serious injuries in clashes between the Toori and Mangal tribes in the Kurram Agency of FATA.

A bomb exploded at a madrassa (seminaries) run by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Quetta, provincial capital of Balochistan, killing five people and injuring 10 more.

Militants in the Dakorak area of Charbagh in the Swat valley of NWFP lobbed hand grenades at Brinks-armoured car, shifting cash amount, killing two occupants and injuring as many, and also looted PKR 9.8 million. The killed security officials were identified as Muhammad Omar and Ahmad. The vehicle was also badly damaged in the attack.

According to a statement issued by the Media Information Centre Swat, around 75 Taliban have been killed with a similar number injured in the past 14 days in Koza Bandi.

The SFs gained total control of Siddiqabad, Toheedabad, Rehman Baba, Shandai Mor, Faja, Sabu Kalay, Yousufabad, Sharpana, Nawidand, Shomlo Qila and Mamizo areas of Khar Tehsil. They have also established check posts in the area and are patrolling the roads.

The US drones continued their flights over various areas of North and South Waziristan in the FATA, creating panic and fear among the locals.

Security was put on high alert across Punjab following reports that four would-be suicide bombers had entered the province. The alleged suicide bombers, aged between 14 and 20, could wreak havoc on a large scale before Eid. The bombers are aiming for law-enforcement personnel and sensitive installations in Punjab.

September 20

A suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives at the Marriott Hotel in capital Islamabad, killing at least 60 people. At least 200 people, including a Pakistan Peoples Party legislator, were injured in the explosion, which ruptured a gas pipeline and triggered a huge blaze. A US national was killed and several foreigners were injured Malik. Police arrested a 14-year-old suspect outside the hotel.

September 21

The Czech ambassador and his Vietnamese partner were among the 53 persons killed in the suicide attack in Islamabad. The United States Defense Department said two American soldiers assigned to the US embassy were also killed in the blast. Meanwhile, a Danish intelligence official was missing. A US official at the Guantanamo naval base told Reuters, "The attack certainly bears all the hallmarks of... Al Qaeda or its associates."

Preliminary investigation suggests a strong connection with South Waziristan Agency. The six-wheeler dumper used in the attack carried 600-kilogram’s of RDX and TNT explosives, along with splinters, mortars, artillery rounds, mines and aluminum powder – which caused the fire. The hotel was not the intended target. 53 people, including four foreigners, had been killed in the attack and 266, including 13 foreigners, had been injured.

The Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said that terrorists had intended to target Parliament and the Prime Minister House where key figures of the country were present after attending a joint parliamentary session.

The federal government says it will intensify operations in FATA, with more security personnel set to be committed to the fight for a large operation which is to begin sometime in the next 48 hours. The operation in Swat, Bajaur and other tribal agencies will continue.

September 22

A police SHO and four constables, son of a tribal chief, and four other people were killed when tribesmen attacked a police post at Nurpur in the Qambar-Shahdadkot district in Sindh. The post was attacked by about 100 tribesmen, who also torched a police van.

Nine SF personnel were killed and two other injured in a suicide car-bomb attack on a check post in Swat in the NWFP. A suspected Taliban militant rammed his explosives-laden car into a small roadside check post in Madyan town in Swat.

The SFs killed three militants and arrested 28 others during an operation against Taliban at Abbas Chowk and Sikha Khel in the Darra Adam Khel.

Three Hazara tribesmen were shot dead at two places in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.

Afghan Consul-General in Peshawar, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, was abducted and his driver was shot dead for resisting the assailants.

Pakistani troops reportedly fired at two US gunship helicopters that intruded into the Lowara Mandi area of the North Waziristan Agency (NWA), forcing them to fly back to Afghanistan.

A group calling itself Fedayeen-i-Islam claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad.

A grand peace Jirga (council) consisting of elders of major tribes of Upper Dir in the NWFP unanimously decided that the people of the district will resist militant activities and that action will be taken against those providing shelter to militants or anti-state elements.

Two Chinese engineers abducted by the Taliban appealed for their safe release. In a newly released video by the AfPax Insider news service, the two apparently distraught Chinese engineers appealed to the governments of China and Pakistan to help save their lives.

September 23

More than 50 militants and a lone SF personnel were killed in the ongoing military operation in the Darra Adam Khel area of NWFP. The SFs had secured major portions of the Indus Highway, cleared the Kohat Tunnel, and successfully evicted Taliban from their roadside hideouts, on the second day of the operation. The troops also carried out a search operation in Darra bazaar while helicopter gunship and artillery pounded militant positions.

Security forces killed at least 10 militants in Bajaur Agency.

Three persons, including two women, were killed in a mortar attack on the Pewar village of Kurram Agency in the FATA. The Mengal tribesmen allegedly fired four mortar shells at a house in the Pewar village that belonged to a Toori tribesman, killing three people.

Foreign al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are ‘infiltrating’ into Bajaur from Afghanistan to join their colleagues in the crucial battle for survival in the face of an all-out military action.

The army undertook a leading role in the operation from September 1, after paramilitary forces made a failed attempt to take over Loyesam from the militants on August 6. Since then, 80 percent areas of Utmankhel, Salarzai and Khar tehsils have been ‘cleared of militants’. However, Nawagai and Mamoond tehsils have not yet been secured against the militants.

Police are searching for two explosives-laden trucks in the federal capital, Islamabad.

The Federal Interior Ministry has warned that banned militant groups could strike in Karachi as well as other cities of the country.

September 24

25 Taliban militants and seven soldiers were killed during fierce fighting in different areas of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. Several Taliban bunkers were also destroyed in the operation. The troops recovered arms and ammunition from several compounds they searched in the Tang Khata, Rashakai and Khazana areas.

Security forces killed six unidentified armed men during the ongoing operation in Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP.

Tribal elders, clerics and Taliban militants publicly killed four criminals in Wana in South Waziristan for allegedly committing murder. The Taliban blindfolded the four (alleged) criminals before allowing people to shoot them.

At least three people were killed when a shell hit their vehicle as security forces (SFs) and Taliban militants clashed in the Karapa area of Mohmand Agency in the FATA.

A teenaged female student, Shahida, was killed and 22 others were injured in a suicide blast targeting a Frontier Corps (FC) convoy in the Quetta cantonment area of the Balochistan.

The police arrested three men and seized two explosive-laden trucks in the Sara-e-Alamgir area of Jehlum. It said the trucks were headed for Lahore from Rawalpindi and carried equipment used to manufacture fireworks.

September 25

At least 16 Taliban militants and two civilians were killed when army helicopter gun ships attacked Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.

An Utmankhel tribe Jirga (council) decided to take action against the Taliban and their backers in the area.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Swat said they had reservations about the proposed Shari Nizam-e-Adl laws for the area.

A 3,000-strong armed tribal lashkar forced Taliban out of the Malagori area near Jamrud.

The Government Girls School and College in Jamrud received threatening letters from the Taliban.

Pakistani troops fired on United States helicopters which had crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan.

September 26

14 militants were killed and 20 others injured when security forces, backed by helicopter gun ships and artillery, pounded suspected militant positions in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.

Helicopters shelled militant hideouts in the Tang Khatta, Damadola, Rashakai, Bicheena and Banda areas, killing another seven militants.

Three would-be suicide bombers, suspected to be cadres of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), were killed along with a handcuffed hostage when one of the bombers blew himself up following a police raid on a house in Karachi.

The situation in Bajaur Agency will be stabilised within two months, the Frontier Corps (FC) chief in the region said.

September 27

19 militants and two Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were killed while four FC personnel received injuries in a gun battle between the security forces (SFs) and militants in the Dera Bugti district of Balochistan.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) spokesman Sarbaz Baloch told reporters in Quetta that militants had killed 17 SF personnel in the fighting. The clash happened 25 days after a unilateral ceasefire was announced by three militant outfits – the BLA, the Baloch Republican Army and the Baloch Liberation Front – on September 1.

September 28

The security forces killed at least 16 Taliban militants after coming under attack at Bajaur Agency in FATA.

Unidentified militants abducted a Polish engineer near Attock in Punjab, shooting dead his two drivers and a security guard during the abduction.

28 people, including 25 militants and three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel, have been killed in two days of clashes between the security forces (SFs) and militants in the Gandoi and Uch areas of Dera Bugti in Balochistan. The fresh clashes erupted on September 27 and continued on September 28 in which six FC personnel also sustained injuries. The SFs had destroyed two militant camps during a search operation, and seized a huge haul of weapons and explosives.

September 29

20 Taliban militants were killed in an intense encounter with the security forces (SFs) at Tur China in the Darra Adam Khel area of NWFP.

13 people, including nine tribesmen and four Taliban militants, were killed following a clash in Bajaur Agency in FATA.

A press release issued by the Frontier Corps headquarters in NWFP said combat aviation had killed 13 Taliban militants and two suicide bombers in the Bara area of Khyber Agency in FATA.

Around 50 Taliban militants stormed a military check post in the Rashakai area. The security forces (SFs) in retaliation killed five Taliban militants.

Around 40 Taliban militants raided a check post at Tang Khatta. The SF’s firing killed at least four Taliban militants, while two soldiers were also wounded.

The SFs claimed to have killed 56 militants and injured 88 others during the 12-day operation in Darra Adam Khel.

Operation against the militants has almost been completed in Darra Adam Khel as security forces flushed out the miscreants from the town and seized huge quantity of lethal weapons and ammunitions during the 12 days offensive.

The abducted Afghan envoy, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, has been found seven days after his abduction and was brought to Peshawar on September 29-evening.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has reiterated his stance on increased Talibanisation in the Karachi city, stating that the Taliban has imposed its ‘system’ in two major areas of the city, Sultanabad and Pukhtoonabad.

The Balochistan Chief Minister (CM) Nawab Aslam Raisani notified the dropping of eight cases pending against Baloch nationalist leaders Nawab Khair Baksh Marri and his son Nawabzada Harbiar Marri.

The US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said that international laws allow the US to take unilateral actions inside Pakistan.

US military commander David Petraeus said that Pakistan must deal with the threat from the Taliban to its very existence.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that the government will never give in to terrorism.

Operations against militants had been a mixed bag of success and setbacks and no timeframe could be given about the ongoing campaigns, sources in the military said in a media.

Sources further informed that the security forces had suffered a total of 1,368 casualties in the war on terror since 2001, while 3,348 personnel had been wounded. Meanwhile, 2,825 Taliban, including 581 foreigners and 2,244 locals had been killed. 1,400 Taliban were injured over the same period, which included 311 foreigners and 1,089 locals.

Thousands of Charmang tribesmen following in the footsteps of Salarzai and Utmankhel tribes announced the formation of a grand 'laskhar' to launch massive crackdown against militants in the Agency and vowed to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with the Pakistan Army.

September 30

Troops killed another five Taliban militants after they launched an attack on a military checkpost in the same town, leading to a gun battle that lasted nearly an hour, the official said.

Four Taliban militants were killed and two others were wounded in the shelling of a vehicle at Mamoond town, when tribesmen backed by Army helicopter gunships fought the Taliban at Bajaur Agency in the FATA.

Four security personnel were killed and five others injured when their vehicle hit a landmine near Sui at Dera Bugti region in Balochistan. The vehicle was destroyed in the explosion.

Residents said government helicopters dropped leaflets in various parts of the agency calling for the support.

October 1

At least 13 more militants were killed and ten others injured when a Qaumi lashkar (army) of the Salarzai tribe launched an operation against the militants in the Salarzai tehsil (revenue division).

Five people had been killed in a US strike, eight kilometers south of the town of Mir Ali. Reports said that a US pilot less drone fired two missiles at a house in the area.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the US attacks inside Pakistani territory and termed them 'terrorism'. Regarding the ongoing military operations in north-western Pakistan, he reiterated that the war against terrorism was Pakistan’s own war.

October 2

Troops backed by artillery killed 25 Taliban militants in the Bajaur Agency in FATA.

A suicide bomber blew himself up as he tried to enter a house owned by the Awami National Party (ANP) chief, Asfandyar Wali Khan, in the NWFP, killing four. Khan, the chairman of the Pakistani parliament's foreign relations committee, however, escaped unhurt in the attack. The incident took place in the town of Charsadda outside a hujra (guest house) belonging to Khan, a member of ruling coalition.

Taliban have claimed that they are holding the abducted Polish engineer. "He is with us. We have kidnapped him," Mohammad, a spokesman for the Taliban active in the Darra Adam Khel region told reporters in Peshawar by telephone. The Pole, identified as Piotr Stanczak, was abducted by gunmen on September 28 and his two drivers and a security guard shot dead in northern Attock district.

The local government has ordered Afghan refugees in Bajaur to leave the area within three days. There are an estimated 70,000 Afghan refugees in Bajaur, who have been living there since the late 1970s after fleeing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

October 3

United States air strikes on three villages in North Waziristan in FATA killed at least 20 people. Intelligence officials said a pilot less drone aircraft launched an attack on the Mohammad Khel village, 30-kilometres west of Miranshah, at around 9:30pm (PST).

Pakistani intelligence officials reported another US air strike on Datta Khel village, situated closer to the border with Afghanistan, in which at least three persons were killed.

October 4

Volunteers of the Salarzai tribe set ablaze eight Taliban houses in the Aundai area of Bajaur Agency. Taliban militants attacked the lashkar (army) and three Taliban militants were killed in the exchange of fire.

Tribesmen in the Mir Ali sub-division fired rockets at two drones that crossed into Pakistan.

The residents of Mamoond have also decided to form a lashkar to combat the Taliban. The decision was taken during a meeting of tribal elders. Another meeting of tribal leaders would be held on October (5) to devise a strategy against Taliban.

The Afghan refugees started leaving Bajaur Agency following a three-day deadline given by the local administration for them to vacate the agency, locals said.

October 5

At least five Taliban militants were killed when security forces targeted suspected Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency of FATA with heavy artillery and helicopter gunships. Eight Taliban were also injured in the operation at Tang Khata, Rashakai, Khazana, Kausar and Shinkot.

Five persons were killed and three others injured after clashes between tribal rivals in the North Waziristan Agency of FATA.

Two top Taliban commanders were killed in an exchange of fire with the security forces (SFs) in the Matta tehsil (revenue division) of Swat district in the NWFP.

Two rockets fell near the NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti’s native residence on the Mardan-Nowshera road.

October 6

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of people at the house of Rashid Akbar Niwani, a Shia Member of National Assembly from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), in Bhakkar, 260-km southwest of Islamabad in Punjab, killing 25 people and wounding 60 others, including Niwani.

Six militants were killed in a fierce clash with the Frontier Corps (FC) in the Khazana area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. In a statement issued in Peshawar, FC authorities said that the militants "wearing militia uniforms" had occupied a house.

Four militants were killed by security forces (SFs) in the Tor Chappar village of Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP.

Taliban released four more of the 25 trainee police officials they abducted last month from Hangu. The agency quoted NWFP Police Inspector General Malik Naveed as saying negotiations were held with Taliban for the release of police officials and action was also taken against them.

In Darra Adam Khel, the SFs said they had gained complete control of the Indus Highway and cleared the Kohat tunnel.

Darra Taliban have claimed responsibility for the Walibagh suicide attack on the chief of Awami National Party, Asfandyar Wali Khan.

Two more tribes in the FATA formed militias on to take action against Taliban and several others assured the government of their support in its efforts to restore peace in the Tribal Areas.

A press release by the FATA Secretariat’s media cell said tribal elders from the Khyber, Bajaur, Mohmand and Orakzai agencies and the Frontier Regions had assured the government of support against the Taliban in separate jirgas. The Salarzai, Mamoond and Utman Khel tribes of Bajaur Agency, Mullagori, Zakha Khel and Adam Khel Afridis of Khyber Agency and the Kohat Frontier Region, and the Ali Khel tribe of Orakzai Agency had formed lashkars against the Taliban, the statement said. The Koki Khel tribe in Khyber Agency however declined to form a militia against the Taliban. Its head, Attaullah Jan Koki Khel, told a jirga raising militias was ‘American policy’.

October 7

Three remote-controlled bombs went off one after the other in three juice shops in the Garhi Shahu area of Lahore in Punjab injuring seven including two children and a woman.

Pilot less aircraft continued their flights over Miranshah in the North Waziristan Agency of FATA as tribesmen fired rockets to target them as they entered Pakistan’s airspace.

October 8

At least 20 Taliban militants, including eight foreigners, were killed when helicopter gun ships hit their hideouts in the Badaan area of Mamoond tehsil (revenue division) in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. The sources said the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) spokesman Maulvi Omar’s house.

Five Taliban militants were killed and 27 arrested by the security forces (SFs) during an operation in the Darra Adam Khel area of NWFP.

A pilot less drones from Afghanistan violated Pakistani airspace, and flew over various areas of Mohmand Agency, locals said.

The SFs arrested 22 Taliban militants, including several important commanders in an operation at Gul Jabba in the Kabal tehsil (revenue division) of Swat.

The Utmankhel and Mandal tribes of Bajaur Agency have convened jirgas (councils) on October 9 to make decisions regarding law and order in the agency.

October 9

At least 21 Taliban militants were killed in air strikes on their hideouts in the Ghat Peochar and Landai Sarshur areas of Swat district in the NWFP.

11 persons were killed in the Dir area of NWFP when an improvised bomb exploded under a prison vehicle shortly after 1pm (PST) in the Khwago Oba area. The dead included four schoolchildren, three policemen and five prisoners.

At least eight persons, include seven Taliban militants and a local tribesman, were killed when the local Toori tribesmen and security forces (SFs) clashed with the Taliban militants in the Kurram Agency of FATA.

At least seven people, including three foreigners, were killed in a missile attack by a suspected United States (US) drone, 20-kilometres east of Miranshah in the North Waziristan Agency of FATA.

Six members of a family were killed in the Darmai area of Matta tehsil (revenue division) as a shell fired by the security forces (SFs) accidentally hit the house of a local, identified as Wazirzada. The dead include two women, three children and a male member of the family.

Five persons, including three suspected militants and two women, were killed and several others sustained injuries in continued shelling by gunship helicopters on suspected positions of Taliban militants in the Mamond sub-division of the Bajaur Agency in FATA.

A suspected suicide car bombing destroyed part of an Anti-Terror Squad building and wounded at least six policemen in the heavily guarded Police Lines area in Islamabad. Security officials found a letter from the TTP at the explosion site, signed by its commander Waliur Rehman on a Jaish-e-Islami letter pad. Written in Pashto language, the letter seeks permission from an undisclosed authority to launch an attack on the Anti-Terror Squad saying the plan of action had been finalised.

Unidentified assailants lobbed a hand grenade at the car of Baloch Republican Party leader, Saifullah Jattak, in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, partially damaging the vehicle.

In the Mandal area of Salarzai tehsil (revenue division), a tribal lashkar (army) comprising thousands of armed tribesmen announced a crackdown against militants in their area from October 10.

October 10

At least 40 persons were killed and around 90 others wounded when a suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle set off an explosion in an anti-Taliban jirga (council) of the Ali Khel tribe in the Khadezai area of Upper Orakzai Agency in the FATA.

13 militants were killed in a clash with a tribal lashkar in the Charmang area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. Five militants were also killed in an air strike carried out by security forces in the Mamound area.

Security forces killed five suspected Taliban militants when they shelled their hideouts at Malam Jabba in the NWFP.

The Taliban militants beheaded four elders from the Charmang tribe after they had attended a pro-government jirga (council).

The dead bodies of four Qaumi Lashkar members were recovered from Tungi.

Four Taliban militants were killed when security forces neutralised their hideouts in the Rashakai, Tang Khata, Khazana and Kauser areas of Bajaur.

A jirga in Bajaur Agency ruled it was necessary to act against the Taliban. An emergency meeting was held in Chaarmang at the hujra (guest house) of Mohammad Rehman.

October 11

The death toll in the Orakzai suicide blast of October 10 increased to 85, while 200 persons were reported injured.

A suspected United States (US) missile strike killed four people while the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) claimed it had killed five Taliban militants inside Pakistan.

Tribesmen in the Charmang area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA accelerated their action against the local Taliban after the recovery of the beheaded dead bodies of four tribal elders in the area.

October 12

Security forces said they have killed 27 Taliban militants in an air strike in the Orakzai Agency of FATA.

20 Taliban militants and three lashkar (army) men were killed and several others injured when fierce fighting erupted between volunteers of the armed tribal force and the Taliban militants in the Charmang area of Nawagai tehsil (revenue division) in the Khar sub-division of Bajaur Agency in the FATA.

A missile strike killed at least four people at Miranshah in the North Waziristan Agency of FATA, residents said.

A jirga (council) held in Charmang decided to expedite action against the militants and miscreants.

The British officials covered up evidence that a Taliban commander killed by special forces in Helmand in Afghanistan last year was in fact a Pakistani military officer. Citing unidentified Afghan officials, reporter Christina Lamb said British soldiers discovered a Pakistani military ID on his body.

October 13

In an intensified operation against the Taliban militants in Swat in the NWFP, the security forces killed at least 25 militants in parts of Khwazakhela tehsil (revenue division).

Troops and helicopter gun ships killed at least 24 Taliban militants in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA.

Four tribesmen were killed in clashes between the Taliban militants and a tribal lashkar in the Kotkai village near Charmang area, Reuters quoted another government official as saying. He said several Taliban militants were also killed, but was unsure of the number.

Five Taliban militants were killed and 15 others arrested during a security forces’ operation in the Darra Adam Khel area of NWFP.

Four people, including a leader of the Awami National Party, were injured when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in the Dir district, an administration official said.

October 14

At least 28 Taliban militants and a tribesman were killed in the latest clashes in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. Jets and helicopters killed 16 Taliban in Bajaur, while artillery and mortars overnight killed 10 others.

The SFs targeted suspected Taliban hideouts in various areas of Bajaur Agency, killing 14 Taliban and wounding several others. Two more Taliban militants and a tribesman were killed in a separate incident in the same agency.

10 persons, including five civilians and four Taliban militants, were killed in the ongoing operation in the Khwazakhela area of Swat. The SFs shelled suspected positions of militants from helicopters and artillery in the Alamganj and Gashkor areas killing five civilians.

Clashes between the two sides were reported in which four Taliban fighters, including two commanders, Abdul Wakeel and Sher Muhammad, were killed.

At least three people were killed while three others were injured when unidentified assailants opened firing on a van in the Sanbaga area of Orakzai Agency.

A Polish engineer abducted two weeks ago in Pakistan by suspected Taliban militants appeared in a video address urging the release of jailed Taliban fighters.

Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski declared he was prepared to negotiate, but cast doubt on the real intentions of the Taliban. He said he was also prepared to make important concessions, but stressed the Taliban’s demands were not focused on Poland.

October 15

SFs pounded Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency of FATA killing at least 16 Taliban militants. Troops fired artillery and mortars onto hideouts of Taliban in Loyesam, Rashakai, Chinar and Babra areas, killing 10 and wounding eight others. Six other Taliban militants were killed by helicopter gun ships in the same area.

Four people, including a female politician of the ANP, were killed by suspected Taliban militants in Swat in the NWFP.

The staffs of the CID have arrested two criminals who were allegedly supplying automatic weapons to various militant outfits, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and the Taliban. During the investigation it was discovered that the two arms suppliers were the associates of Noor Sharif (an arms supplier from Dara Adam Khel recently caught by the CID).

A tribal lashkar (militia) in Charmang refused to co-operate with the SFs in operating against Taliban.

The TTP spokesman Maulvi Umar has said that Pakistani Taliban are ready to lay down their arms and hold talks with the government if the latter ceases fire. The annual budget of the local Taliban is more than PKR 4 billion. A Khasadar force soldier is paid a monthly salary of PKR 3,000, while a Taliban mercenary gets PKR 6,000 a month. Local Taliban commanders receive as much as PKR 20,000 a month.

October 16

The SFs killed seven militants in the daylong shelling by artillery and gunship helicopters in different parts of the Bajaur Agency in FATA. Several other militants were injured and their hideouts destroyed in the attacks, the sources added.

A suspected US drone fired two missiles into South Waziristan, killing five people, including at least one foreigner, security officials said.

A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into the Mingora Police Station in Swat in the NWFP, killing four security personnel and destroying the building. Nearby offices of newspapers and a TV channel were damaged in the earlier firing. Most of the 27 people injured were security forces and police, though two civilian bystanders were also injured.

The political administration banned government officials from entering the agency because of abduction threats.

The insurgency based in Pakistan’s FATA is intensifying, a soon-to-be completed US intelligence assessment.

October 17

At least 60 Taliban militants were killed when fighter jets bombarded a Taliban training camp and suspected hideouts in the Matta tehsil (revenue division) of Swat district in NWFP.

The security forces launched an offensive against the Taliban militants in the Bajaur Agency of FATA, killing 12 militants. Backed by helicopter gun ships, artillery and jet fighters, the troops launched the operation in the Loyesam area.

October 18

13 Taliban militants were killed in attacks by the SFs on Taliban positions in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. The SFs continued targeting Taliban posts with heavy artillery and fighter jets in the Zor Bandar, Loyesam, Charmang, Kohi and Babara areas of the agency, killing 13 and destroying several Taliban hideouts.

The SFs reportedly completed preparations for a massive operation against Taliban in the Charmang and Mamoond areas. The troops have also started advancing towards the Loyesam, Zor Bandar and Tangi areas of Khar tehsil (revenue division) of Bajaur.

October 19

27 Taliban militants, including two commanders, were killed as fighter jets bombed a Taliban hideout in the Matta tehsil (revenue division) of Swat in the NWFP. The commanders killed in the air strike in were closely associated with pro-Taliban cleric Fazlullah. An ammunition dump at their hideout also exploded. Nearby houses were also destroyed.

Seven Taliban militants were killed when jets bombed suspected Taliban hideouts in the Loyesam, Zorbandar, Sar Lara and Enzara areas of Khar tehsil (revenue division) and Sawai, Tangai, Dabara and Zarnawoo areas of Mohaman tehsil in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.

Four people were killed and six others injured when a remote-controlled bomb exploded in the main bazaar of Dera Bugti in Balochistan. The bomb was planted to strike Member of the National Assembly, Ahmadan Bugti, the lawmaker, escaped unhurt. A vehicle carrying Ahmadan and his son had driven past the bomb before it exploded. Police told APP that terrorists wanted to target Ahmadan’s son. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Three Taliban militants and a soldier were killed in an attack by the Taliban on a security forces convoy in the Kabal tehsil (revenue division).

Three Taliban militants were killed in other parts of Bajaur when they tried to attack security posts.

Four tribes joined hands to fight Taliban and al Qaeda in their areas in Orakzai Agency of FATA. The Ali Khel, Mullah Khel, Mushti and Shekhan tribes demolished Taliban hideouts and ‘asked them to leave’. Taliban left to take refuge in the Mamozai area where their headquarters are located. Elders of Mamozai tribe held a secret meeting, it said, to plan a strategy against them.

October 20

15 Taliban militants were killed as security forces used heavy artillery, fighter jets and helicopter gun ships to target suspected Taliban hide-outs in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.

Seven Taliban militants were killed and another 10 wounded in a clash with security forces (SFs) in the Shah Dherai area of Kabal tehsil (revenue division) in the Swat area of NWFP.

About 300 elders from the Salarzai tribe vowed to resist Taliban in their areas during a grand jirga (council) held in Bajaur.

The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher said that Pakistan must not begin talks with the Taliban as negotiations had failed in the past and praised the government for the its military operations in the tribal areas. Boucher met President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, and also the NWFP’s political leadership.

October 21

Helicopter gunships and fighter jets pounded Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency of FATA, killing 11 Taliban militants and wounding 10 others. Security officials said important Taliban positions were destroyed in the attacks in the Chinar, Charmang, Kohi, Babara and Hashim areas of Nowagai tehsil (revenue division).

Five Taliban militants, including a local commander identified as ‘Chota Mufti’, were killed as clashes erupted between the security forces SFs and the militants following a police convoy hitting an improvised bomb on its way from Kabal to Totano in the NWFP. Two vehicles were damaged in the incident.

October 22

At least 15 FC personnel and five Taliban militants were found dead in the Kabal tehsil (revenue division) of Swat in the NWFP. The FC personnel had gone missing after a fight with Taliban that broke out on October 21 after a roadside bomb targeted a paramilitary convoy in the Sarsenai area.

Security forces backed by helicopter gun ships and jet fighters targeted suspected Taliban hideouts in the Nawagai and Mamond tehsils (revenue divisions) of Bajaur Agency in FATA, killing more than 12 Taliban militants and injuring 10.

At least four Taliban militants were killed in a clash with the security forces (SFs) in Khyber Agency. One Frontier Constabulary soldier was also injured. The SFs also arrested seven Taliban militants from the Shah Kas area.

The Pakistan Parliament after two days of negotiations unanimously adopted the 14-point resolution declaring that Pakistani nation was united against terrorism and sectarian violence and would tackle the problem by addressing its root causes. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani moved the resolution, which he said would serve as policy guideline to the government in framing a national security strategy.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) indicated willingness to lay down arms if the Government assured it of ending the ongoing military operation. The TTP spokesman, Maulvi Omar, said that the allegation that the Taliban movement was destabilising Pakistan was baseless, adding, that the TTP was firm on its stance that if the Government ended the military operation, it would lay down its arms.

October 23

Security forces carried out ground and air strikes in the Bajaur Agency of FATA, killing at least 35 Taliban militants. Jet fighters continued targeting suspected Taliban hideouts in the Loyesam and Charmang areas, killing eight associates of Taliban commander Maulvi Omer in an attack on a hideout in Badan.

Taliban militants killed at least eight pro-government Ferozkhel tribal elders in an ambush in the Orakzai Agency of FATA. The victims were returning from a jirga (council) to discuss strategies for combating Taliban in the agency when their vehicle was stopped in the Babraki Ziarat area on the Oblana-Kohat road.

Suspected US drones fired missiles into a madrassa (seminary) set up by veteran pro-Taliban commander, Jalaluddin Haqqani, killing eight people and wounding six others, near Miranshah in the North Waziristan Agency of FATA.

Frontier Corps Inspector General Maj Gen Tariq Khan has alleged that Taliban militants are infiltrating from Afghanistan into Pakistan to help those battling security forces in Bajaur Agency.

October 24

SFs targeted suspected Taliban hideouts in various areas of Bajaur Agency in the FATA, killing 12 Taliban militants and wounding many others. The SFs backed by tanks and helicopter gun ships pounded Taliban positions in the Charmang, Chinar, Kohi and Banda areas of Nawagai tehsil (revenue division) and Zobandar and Anzrai areas in the Khar tehsil.

The locals from the upper areas of Matta tehsil (revenue division) formed a lashkar (militia) of more than 4,000 armed men and ordered Taliban militants to leave the area in three days. The decision was made in a jirga (council) held at Labat High School with Pir Samiullah in the chair.

October 25

Six people were killed and four injured when two rival groups fought each other using heavy weapons in the remote area of Mandal Daag in the Matta tehsil (revenue division) of Swat in the NWFP.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman, Maulvi Umar, had been killed when an air strike in the Budano area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA.

The security forces have killed 1,500 Taliban militants during the Bajaur operation so far and regained complete control of strategic towns including Loyesam, military officials said at a media briefing. 95 civilians and 73 troops were also killed during the operation codenamed "Sherdill", Frontier Corps Inspector General Maj Gen Tariq Khan and ISPR Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas told reporters.

October 26

Tribesmen killed 20 Taliban militants in clashes that followed a botched attempt to abduct an elder in Swat. Police said a group of pro-Mullah Fazlullah Taliban were trying to hustle Pir Samiullah – chief of a lashkar (militia) – from his home in the Mandaldag area of Matta tehsil (revenue division) to a getaway car when dozens of local tribesmen confronted them and snatched him back. Among the killed Taliban were four commanders, including Shamsher, a bomb making expert, and two close aides of Fazlullah. Muslim Khan, a Taliban spokesman contacted by telephone, confirmed a clash but said only three Taliban militants died. He claimed that 12 tribesmen were killed and another 62 abducted.

At least 11 people, seven of them Frontier Corps personnel and three Khasadars, were killed and five injured in a suicide attack in the Mohmand Agency of FATA. The channel quoted sources as saying that a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into the Naqi check post, killing the 10 SF personnel and a technician.

At least seven persons were killed when the suspected US drones fired missiles into an alleged Taliban compound near Wana at South Waziristan in FATA.

The Taliban militants attacked a security post on the outskirts of Khar, headquarters Bajaur Agency in the FATA. Troops retaliated, killing six Taliban.

Five more militants were killed when troops attacked a suspected Taliban base in the Charmang district.

Three civilians were killed as Taliban militants targeted a barbershop in the Sambat area of Swat.

Police have found the bullet-riddled body of a man said to be the younger brother of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud, in the Bannu district of NWFP. The body was found on 14-kilometres from Bannu on a road.

The elders from Salarzai tribes said that there should be no dialogue with the Taliban, as they are extremists killing innocent people.

The Balochistan Reconciliatory Committee declared a three-pronged strategy to resolve the long-standing issues facing Balochistan. The declared 3R strategy reportedly involved reconciliation with all political forces, rebuilding national institutions and reallocating resources.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani addressing a news conference after his October 24-25 visit to China, where he attended the 7th Asian Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Beijing, said that the Government would call back the Army and replace it with other law-enforcement agencies after restoration of peace in the troubled areas of NWFP.

October 27

At least 10 Taliban militants were killed in a clash with troops in Sarsanai village of Matta tehsil (revenue division) of Swat district in the NWFP. Three Taliban militants were arrested in a subsequent search operation in the same village.

Four persons, including an imam (prayer leader) and a seminary teacher, were killed and several others injured, when suspected militants opened fire on them at Baldia Town in Karachi.

October 28

Five civilians, including a woman, were killed and 21 others injured during shelling on Kabal village of Swat in the NWFP.

Four Taliban militants were killed in fighting with the security forces in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.

The SFs shelled the hideouts of Taliban militants in the Sar Banda area of Matta tehsil (revenue division), a breeding ground for the militants, and wounded two important commanders, Abn-e-Aqil and his father.

The militants released two elders, Azizullah and Khurshaid Iqbal. Both the persons along with 60 others were captured by the Taliban militants in Barthana during a jirga (council) convened to stop the militants from using their village for militant activities.

Bugti leader, Wadera Muhammad Maluk Bugti, along with his accomplice was gunned down in the Lajo Safari area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan.

The SFs injured three Taliban militants and arrested five others after an hour-long gun battle in the Mohmand Agency of FATA.

Local Taliban in the Orakzai Agency of FATA have agreed to lay down arms, demolish training camps and expel foreign fighters, including Uzbeks and Arabs, from their respective areas. A Mamozai tribal elder told Dawn that local Taliban could stay in the area if they gave assurance of good conduct.

The United States (US) is actively considering talks with Taliban in a major policy shift that would have been unthinkable a few months ago, discloses a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The Taliban, separately, rejected a Pakistan-Afghanistan mini-jirga (council) call for dialogue. A spokesperson of the Taliban termed it as ‘worthless’. "This jirga was founded by the Americans. It has no power, no respect,"

The authorities had set up village police in Lower Dir to improve law and order in the district. The Lower Dir district police officer said that village police would conduct joint patrolling along with regular police in different areas of the district.

October 29

Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel killed five Taliban militants in the Lakaro tehsil (revenue division) of Mohmand Agency in the FATA.

Nine soldiers and five civilians were injured when a suicide bomber exploded his explosives-laden Land Cruiser jeep at a military check post in the Cantonment area of Bannu district in the NWFP. A powerful blast rocked the main compound wall of a school in the Cantonment area.

October 30

The SFs killed 10 more Taliban militants and injured two others during operations in various areas of Kabal tehsil (revenue division) of Swat in the NWFP. The SFs took action in Akhun Killay, Kotlai, Dagai, Saidu Sharif Airport and Kanju, using gunship helicopters and artillery to pound suspected positions of the militants. According to the ISPR-run Swat Media Centre, seven militants were killed and an ammunition dump destroyed in an attack on the insurgents’ positions in Kotlai area of Kabal.

Security forces in Mohmand Agency of FATA killed five Taliban militants and captured an explosives expert known to have links with Afghan insurgents. One Taliban was killed and another was wounded in a shootout with troops, who chased their vehicle when they refused to stop at a check post. Four other Taliban arrived in a jeep to rescue the injured, but security forces attacked the vehicle, killing all of them. The alleged explosives expert was identified as Pakistani Taliban commander Imran alias Mansoor.

The SFs entered Sirsenai village where, during a house-to-house search, an exchange of fire took place with the Taliban, resulting in the death of three militants. One militant was also arrested and a large quantity of explosives and CDs recovered from some houses.

October 31

20 Arab fighters of the al Qaeda were killed when two suspected US missiles struck a pick-up truck and a house west of Mir Ali in the North Waziristan of FATA.

At least 12 suspected Taliban militants were killed when two missiles were fired by a suspected US drone at a hideout near Wana in the South Waziristan of FATA. Top Taliban commander Mullah Nazir was also wounded in the strike.

A suicide bomber killed nine persons and injured 21 in an attack on police in Mardan of NWFP. The suicide bomber attacked the police squad of Mardan DIG Akhtar Ali Shah outside his office at 1:30 pm, police said, adding that five among the dead and three among the injured were policemen.

Six persons were killed and five others, including two women and three children, injured in the shelling by fighter planes in Sapri area of the Mamond tehsil (revenue divisions) in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.

Four persons were killed and three others sustained injuries during an attack by the Taliban militants in Daboori area of upper Orakzai Agency in FATA. The retaliatory fire killed a militant and injured another.`

The security forces killed four militants and injured nine others in separated operation in Swat valley of NWFP. While two militants were killed and five others injured in Char Bagh area, two militants were killed and four others sustained injuries in Sar Bandai area of Matta tehsil (revenue division).

November 1

At least Eight Taliban militants were killed and 10 others injured as helicopter gunships of the security forces targeted Taliban positions in the Damadola and Mataro Sha areas under Mamoond tehsil (revenue division) of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. The volunteers from the Mamoond tribe reportedly captured several check posts abandoned by the Taliban in different areas.

November 2

At least 13 Taliban militants and two SF personnel were killed and nine militants injured in clashes in various areas of Swat valley in the NWFP.

A suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a checkpoint near the main gate of the Zalai Fort in South Waziristan FATA, killing eight paramilitary troopers. Four persons were also wounded in the attack.

Three Taliban militants were killed and four others injured in a military operation in Bajaur Agency FATA.

November 3

18 Taliban militants were killed in SF operations in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. Four Taliban militants were killed in artillery shelling in different areas of Mamond tehsil (revenue division) in the morning, while 14 Taliban militants were killed in bombing by jet fighters in the afternoon, officials said.

In Kabal Khas, four bullet-riddled bodies, including a father and son, were found on the bank of river Swat. The killed persons were identified as Fazal and his son Shah Wali Khan and Aziz. The identity of the fourth deceased could not be ascertained.

The political administration of Orakzai Agency in the FATA arrested at least 20 tribesmen, including men of the Rabia Khel and Asa Khel tribes, accused of involvement in the abduction of six people, including two security force personnel, on November 1. The political administration said it would continue action against the tribes until the recovery of the abducted people.

A former deputy attorney-general, Raja Mohammad Irshad, who spilled the beans about Gen Pervez Musharraf’s alleged move during last year’s judicial crisis to get a favourable decision in a case about his eligibility to contest the presidential race, has admitted that he lost his son who was fighting alongside the Taliban against the American-led forces in Afghanistan soon after September 11, 2001.

November 4

At least seven persons, including three SF officials, were killed and six others injured in a suicide attack on a SF check post in the Hangu district of NWFP.

Five Taliban militants were killed and several others injured in artillery fire and bombing by jet planes on suspected Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. Jet fighters targeted Taliban positions in the Dama Dola area of Mamoond tehsil (revenue division).

Unidentified militants attacked a police vehicle in the Mardan district of NWFP, killing two policemen and injuring two others.

Owing to the growing threats to security agencies in the Swat valley, about 350 policemen have reportedly either deserted the force or submitted their resignations.

November 5

11 Taliban militants were killed in bombing by jet fighters and artillery shelling in different areas of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. The security forces targeted Gat Agra, Damadola and Janzai areas of Mamoond tehsil and destroyed several Taliban hideouts.

Three Taliban militants were killed when a roadside bomb they were planting exploded in the Chamkanai area of Swat in the NWFP.

November 6

22 tribesmen were killed and 45 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Salarzai jirga (council) in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. The blast targeted a lashkar (militia) in the Batmalani, about 40-kilometres northeast of agency headquarters Khar. Among the dead were the militia’s head Malak Fazal Karim and his aides Malak Wazir Khan and Malak Sakhi.

19 Taliban militants were killed as fighter jets and helicopter gun ships targeted suspected hideouts in the Mamoond and Nawagai tehsils (revenue division).

Two FC personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a FC camp in the Mingora area of NWFP. The police said the attacker infiltrated the gathering of several hundred FC soldiers, which was followed by an assault by Taliban militants.

The Government released three Taliban prisoners, including Baitullah Mehsud’s deputy Maulvi Rafiuddin, while the Taliban released 10 soldiers taken hostage in the Hangu district of NWFP.

US missile strikes in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas in recent months have killed three of the top 20 al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in the area, US Central Command chief Gen David Petraeus told Associated Press in an interview.

Al Qaeda has released the video of the suicide attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad in June 2008. The video that the news channel claims to have received, shows that the attack was carried out by 18-year-old Saudi boy Kamal Saleem a.k.a. Abu Gharaib. The video also included statements from al Qaeda leaders Sheikh Abu al Haya and Sheikh Mustafa Abu Yazeed, who called the attack a response to the controversial cartoons published by Danish newspapers. It also included a message from the attacker. The channel did not run the video, citing ‘journalistic responsibilities’.

November 7

Approximately 20 Taliban militants were killed and 10 others injured at Bajaur Agency in FATA. Helicopter gunships and fighter jets targeted Taliban hideouts in the Mamoond and Nawagai areas as SFs increased aerial strikes in the agency. The troops hit Taliban hideouts in Damadola, Seweai, Sparay, Kharkay, Shinkot areas of Mamoond tehsil (revenue division) and Charmang and Zoorband areas of Nawagai tehsil.

13 persons were killed as suspected US drones fired two missiles at a house in Kamshaam in the Razmak tehsil of North Waziristan in FATA. Latifur Rehman, a senior Government official in the region, told Reuters the missiles hit a 'militant' compound.

November 8

Murtaza Marri, an information officer at the Balochistan Directorate of Public Relations, and his father Abdullah Marri, a senior banker, were shot dead by suspected militants at Khatm-e-Nabuwat chowk in Quetta, capital of Balochistan.

November 9

16 Taliban militants were killed as SFs continued targeting Taliban positions with fighter jets and helicopters in Bajaur Agency of the FATA. Officials said the areas targeted included Sapri, Banda, Khakai, Damadola and Sewai of Mamoond tehsil (revenue division), and six bases and an arms depot were also destroyed in the offensive. Several Taliban posts were destroyed.

NATO jets bombed Tirah Valley in the Khyber Agency of FATA, killing eight members of a banned outfit – Amar Bil Maroof – and injuring three. Amar Bil Maroof spokesman, Munsif Afridi, confirmed that those killed were members of his group. He said that 10 Afghan soldiers had been killed in a gun battle with his group at the Torkham border earlier in the day.

Mortar shells fired by the SFs killed six civilians in the Swat district of NWFP. Police said the civilians were killed as security forces and the Taliban exchanged fire.

November 10

In Mingora, five Taliban militants, including a local commander, were killed in clashes with the troops in the Moragai and Shalkho areas of Matta tehsil (revenue division), while two others were killed in a separate clash in the Kabal area of Swat district in the NWFP.

Six Taliban militants were killed in the Sewai and Damadola areas of Bajaur Agency in the FATA when jets bombarded Taliban hideouts.

The Balochistan Republican Army claimed responsibility for killing a man and his son in the Dera Bugti district of Balochistan on the charges of spying.

The Pakistani security forces retrieved 15 trucks that had been hijacked by the Taliban earlier in the day en route to Afghanistan to deliver goods to US-led coalition forces. The trucks were seized at four places along a road leading to the Afghan border at Jamrud in the Khyber Agency of FATA. "About 60 masked gunmen popped up on the road and took away the trucks. Not a single shot was fired. A military offensive followed the hijacking, with two gunship helicopters targeting Godar, Saurkamar and Varmado Mela areas of Jamrud. At least two Taliban fighters were killed in the operation. "We have successfully recovered all the trucks ... two militants were killed and five wounded in the operation," a news agency quoted official Rahat Khan as saying.

November 11

11 Taliban militants were killed in encounters with troops in the Swat valley of the NWFP.

Seven Taliban militants were killed as troops targeted their hideouts in Bajaur Agency of the FATA. Security forces targeted Taliban positions with helicopters, jet fighters and heavy artillery in Nawagai and Mamoond tehsils (revenue division). Artillery shells also hit civilian areas, but there were no reports of casualties.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a packed Qayyum Stadium in Peshawar, killing four people, including a policeman and three civilians. 13 more persons were wounded. Investigations Senior Superintendent of Police Ghulam Muhammad said seven or eight kilogrammes of explosives were used in the attack.

Three persons were killed during clashes following a combined search operation by Pakistan Army and the paramilitary Frontier Corps and contingents of the Frontier Police at Mathra in the limits of Peshawar district of NWFP.

Three persons were killed during a clash in the Kas Ghundi locality of Machni in Khyber Agency of FATA. The clash ensued after suspected Taliban militants set ablaze a truck carrying a US military jeep to Karachi near the Machni check post.

The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has renewed its offer to hold talks with the Government and said that use of tribal lashkars (militia) is not a solution to the problem in the tribal region. The group’s spokesman Maulvi Omar told newsmen that the TTP wanted a dialogue with the Government for restoring peace in the tribal areas and other parts of the country. He claimed that the Taliban were sincere in their offer because violence was in no-one’s interest.

November 12

At least eight Taliban militants and a solider were killed in an exchange of fire in Kabal tehsil (revenue division) of Swat district in the NWFP.

Five persons, including four SF personnel, were killed as a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-filled bus into the gates of the Subhan Khaur village school in the Charsadda district of NWFP. Two other civilians were killed as troops opened retaliatory fire. The school was being used by the SFs for carrying out operations against the Taliban and hence, there were no children in the school. Fifteen people including soldiers and civilians were injured.

A USAID official, heading a project of the FATA Development Authority, was killed along with his driver near the American Club in the Peshawar town. Stephen de Vance, the chief of the USAID-funded FATA Livelihood Development Programme, was en route to office when unidentified attackers ambushed his car at around 9:00 am on the Ataturk Road.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested former Taliban minister of Afghanistan, who served in the position of a deputy minister of civil aviation under the Taliban government, at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore. He was trying to leave for Dubai. He carried a Pakistani passport, which portrayed him as a resident of Mandi Bahauddin.

November 13

Three Afghan nationals of Tajik tribe were killed by unidentified assailants in the Sariab area of Quetta.

At least two Taliban militants, including a commander identified as Ibrahim, were killed and several others were injured after SFs retaliated to a Taliban rocket attack on Saidu Sharif airport.

Unidentified gunmen abducted an Iranian diplomat in Peshawar’s Hayatabad locality and killed his police guard. According to the police and witnesses, three gunmen with beards and flowing hair stopped Iranian commercial councillor Heshmatollah Atharzadeh’s vehicle some distance from his house in Phase-IV of Hayatabad, bordering Khyber Agency and took him away.

Security forces continued their attacks on suspected Taliban hideouts in the Shnow Ghundo, Spray, Juma Khan Koroona, Kas Koroona and Mullah Ghani Baba areas in Machni. Details of Taliban casualties were not available.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a news briefing in New York that the country has suffered huge losses, amounting to $34.5 billion, since 2001 for its role in the war on terror. Speaking to reporters after President Asif Ali Zardari’s participation in the trilateral summit, involving Saudi Arabian King Abdullah and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Qureshi said, "Pakistan paid a huge price, both in economic and human terms, to protect itself and the world."

November 14

SFs, backed by helicopters and tanks, launched an operation to flush out militants from areas around Charsadda and Peshawar as part of a wider plan to establish the Government’s writ in the Mohmand Agency of FATA. While officials claimed that 21 militants were killed and several others wounded in the operation, local population put the death toll at 13, including seven militants and six civilians. One soldier was killed and another injured.

Suspected US drones fired four guided missiles early at a house in Aula Din Garaj Khel village in North Waziristan, killing 12 persons and injuring three others. The targeted house, belonging to a local tribesman Ameer Gul, was completely destroyed in the attack. Three of the dead were identified as relatives of Ameer Gul. Associated Press reported that the 12 people killed included several foreign fighters. According to an estimate, this missile attack is the 38^th during the tenure of the Pakistan People’s Party Government, while a total of 36 such attacks took place during the Musharraf regime.

Six Taliban militants were killed and several injured in shelling by helicopter gun ships and artillery firing in Charsadda district and nearby Mohmand Agency in the FATA.

The Sindh Government has imposed a ban on circulation of the weekly newspaper Zarbe Momin Karachi and Daily Islam, an official handout said. "The weekly Zarbe Momin Karachi and Daily Islam contain material that can be a source of inspiration for Jihadi outfits and youth, which is prejudicial to the national integration and will promote anti-state feelings, and they are liable to forfeiture for containing objectionable material under section 99-A CrPC 1898", the official handout said.

The Balochistan Assembly passed a unanimous resolution condemning the attacks by NATO and United States forces inside Pakistani territory.

The Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said in New York that the US strikes inside Pakistan are undermining efforts to win the hearts and minds of people. He also said the attacks were being carried out without his knowledge. He stated that the new US administration must let Pakistan deal with the Taliban on its own, as "we want to do more ... it’s our own war".

November 15

Nine Taliban militants, including commander Ali Rehman from Derai, were killed in clashes with the security forces in Swat.

The troops killed a suspected suicide bomber and an accomplice when they fired a rocket on troops in Shabqadar. They also seized Taliban commander Ehtishamul Haq’s house.

Six Taliban militants were killed as troops targeted Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.

Political authorities suspended supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan via Torkham Border due to security concerns on the Pak-Afghan Highway, a private TV channel reported. The channel reported that hundreds of trucks and containers had been stopped in Peshawar after the suspension of the supply. Khyber Agency Political Agent Tariq Hayat told the channel that supplies had been suspended following incidents of looting of trucks and containers carrying oil and other supplies for the NATO forces battling Taliban in Afghanistan.

Foreigners, including Uzbeks, Chechens, Afghans and Saudis, are involved in cross-border activities, which justify air strikes by international forces on Pakistani territory, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said.

November 16

Ten militants and two tribal elders were killed in clashes in the Gutkai and Bandarae areas of Bajaur Agency and six militants and two civilians were killed by SFs’ shelling in the Mamond and Nawagai sub-divisions.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has announced it will not negotiate with the Government in future because the Government is ‘inciting common people against’ the Taliban. TTP spokesman Maulvi Umar also claimed killing 100 members of a tribal lashkar in a clash in Bajaur, and said 25 of them had been captured.

The TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud called the ongoing military operation in Swat and the FATA ‘state terrorism’, according to a message conveyed to the BBC on telephone by Rehman Mehsud who claimed to be a ‘personal spokesman’ for the TTP chief.

November 17

12 militants were killed and eight were arrested in an overnight operation in the Shabqadar area of Charsadda district in the NWFP. Gunship helicopters reportedly shelled different locations in the area, including Khalil Korona, Shanir Ghandy, Akrabdad, Juma Khan Kila, Muhab Kila and Rashkai Korr. Shelling in the Ayesha Korr area resulted in the killing of 12 militants.

Ten persons, including four soldiers, were killed and 17 others were wounded in a suicide blast in the Khawazakhela area of Swat in NWFP. A military statement said the suicide bomber struck the security forces'' check post in an explosives-packed vehicle at 11:15 a.m. near Gashkor. The bomber is believed to be a teenager. Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the attack, adding attacks against security forces would continue if the military operation in Swat continued.

Five Taliban militants were killed when the SFs targeted their hideouts in the Bajaur region in FATA. The five were killed in Siprai village, where the SFs have been engaged in fierce clashes with militants for the past three months.

November 18

15 militants were killed and several others sustained injuries in the ongoing military operation in the Swat Valley in NWFP. Gunship helicopters shelled alleged militant hideouts in Akhund and Zora Kellay in the Kabal sub-division, killing seven militants and injuring several persons, including civilians. Further, a soldier was killed and a civilian was wounded in an encounter between the SFs and militants at Ningolai checkpoint.

10 persons were killed in clashes between the Taliban and pro-government tribal leaders in Bajaur Agency.

Eight militants were killed in an encounter with the SFs in the Gashkor area of Khwazakhela sub-division in Swat.

Five militants were killed while nine persons, including five militants, sustained injuries during a gun-battle in Mian Kellay in the Charsadda district of NWFP.

A suspected US drone fired two missiles on a residential compound in the Janikhel area of Bannu district in NWFP, killing four persons and injuring four others. This was the first time that a drone intruded 70kms deep inside Pakistani territory and hit a target in the settled area of the NWFP. One Arab, two Turkmen and a local militant were killed in the pre-dawn attack. A senior security official in provincial capital Peshawar said that a major Arab al Qaeda operative was among six militants killed in the overnight missile strike. Security sources identified the militant as Abdullah Azam Al-Saudi, a senior al Qaeda member who, they said, American intelligence officials had identified as the main link between al Qaeda’s senior command and Taliban networks in the Pakistani border region.

November 19

12 militants were killed and several others injured when the SFs targeted their suspected hideouts in different areas of Bajaur Agency in FATA. SFs, with artillery and gunship helicopters, targeted hideouts in Damadola, Saparay and Shinkot areas of Mamond tehsil (revenue division) and Charmang, Zorbandar and Sagi areas of Nawagai subdivision.

Nine persons, including five militants, were killed and dozens of others sustained injuries in the ongoing military operation in Swat Valley.

Motorcycle borne gunmen shot dead a retired major general of the Pakistan Army and his driver in the outskirts of national capital Islamabad. Major General Ameer Faisal Alvi from the Special Services Group had retired more than two years ago.

November 20

At least 24 Taliban militants, including 11 foreigners and one local commander, were killed in the military operation in Bajaur Agency. The foreign fighters killed in Bajaur were suspected to be Uzbek nationals. The Taliban casualties came when SFs targeted militants in the Darbari, Saparai, Gatki, Bagori and Zorbandar areas of Mamoond and Nawagai sub-divisions.

Fighter jets targeted Taliban hideouts in the Ghat Piocher area of Matta tehsil in Swat, killing 20 militants. However, the Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said that five houses and a local school were destroyed in the bombing, but there were no casualties.

An angry mob torched shops and vehicles and pelted police with rocks in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP after a bomb exploded at the funeral procession of a slain Shia cleric. 10 persons were killed and approximately 40 others were wounded in the blast. Deputy Superintendent of Police Sanaullah Khan told that a remote-controlled bomb exploded during the funeral of Syed Iqbal Shah at 11am.

In the Khwazakhel tehsil of Swat, at least eight civilians, including six women, were killed and 33 injured as SFs tried to target Taliban positions in the Alam Ganj area.

The chief of a tribal Lashkar (militia) and eight other persons were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque in the Badan village of Bajaur Agency. Eyewitnesses said the bomber succeeded in entering the mosque on the premises of the house of one Malak Rehmatullah during Maghrib prayers. Rehmatullah, a tribal chieftain and head of the Mamond militia, and eight of his close relatives, including a nephew, were killed.

The Baloch nationalist leader Mir Abdul Nabi Bangulzai was released from the Quetta district jail. Mir Bangulzai, a close aide of veteran Baloch leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, was arrested in September 2000 in the Justice Nawaz Marri case.

November 21

22 militants were killed and five others sustained injuries when the SFs targeted hideouts of suspected militants in the Damadola area of Bajaur Agency. SFs targeted hideouts in Damadola, Tanikhwar, Sapray, Charmang, Kotki, Zorbandar, Glokas Shenkot, Kharkay and Gutki areas of Mamond and Nawagai sub-divisions.

The banned Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) may strike in Karachi and "we need to discourage them and increase the vigil," Adviser on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, said in a meeting to review law and order in Karachi and Sindh with President Asif Ali Zardari in the chair at the Governor’s House in Karachi. Malik said there were 17,000 seminaries in the country and 3,000 of them were in Karachi alone. He stated that al Qaeda was using the LeJ, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan for carrying out its activities.

November 22

Four Taliban militants and three women were killed in bombing by fighter aircraft in the Bajaur Agency. Officials said the aircraft attacked suspected hideouts in Kas, Gatki and Kharki areas of Mamoond.

Five people, including two children, were killed and seven others injured when a bomb exploded in a mosque in the Tull tehsil (revenue division) of Hangu district in the NWFP. Hangu District Police Officer Sajjad Khan told the bomb went off at about 4:00pm (PST) during prayers in the Sewa Gul Mosque in the Mohallah Tandaroo Sunni neighbourhood.

British terror suspect Rashid Rauf was among the five people killed in a US drone attack at Mir Ali in North Waziristan. The Government, however, did not confirm his killing. A Western diplomatic source said the missile was fired from a jet across the border in Afghanistan. Peshawar-based intelligence officials said another low ranking al Qaeda operative Abu Zubair Al Masri was also among the dead.

Suspected Taliban militants fired rockets and bullets at the Lorra Pull police check post in the Mundan area of Bannu in NWFP at about 4:00am (PST), killing at least three policemen.

Security forces have taken complete control of Swat’s Kabal tehsil (revenue division) in the NWFP, a military statement said. It said the Taliban had fled the area after heavy casualties and a team of engineers was detecting and removing landmines and remote-controlled bombs that Taliban had planted in the area. It said the fleeing Taliban had robbed several houses and offices.

November 23

Five militants were killed and several others sustained injuries in fresh air raids and artillery shelling in different areas of the Bajaur Agency. SFs, backed by jet fighters, gunship choppers and artillery, moved towards the headquarters of Nawagai revenue division and adjoining villages and took control of the area. The area, which was once a stronghold of the militants in Bajaur, fell to the SFs for the first time after the launch of ‘Operation Sher Dil’ against the militants on August 6.

US missile strikes are undermining Pakistan Army’s strategy to control the situation in the Tribal Areas and some suicide attacks are a direct result of US attacks, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told CNN in an interview. He said Pakistan did not have an agreement with the US to allow it to carry out attacks on al Qaeda and Taliban targets inside Pakistan.

The Taliban are present in Karachi and have links with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and other banned religious organisations, but they have no intention of carrying out attacks in the provincial capital if not provoked by a political party or the Government, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Mullah Omer said.

November 24

SFs claimed to have killed 25 hardcore militants during a military operation in the Michini area of Peshawar district in the NWFP. They also claimed arresting 40 militants and seizing a huge quantity of arms and ammunition. The NWFP’s Inspector General of Police, Malik Naveed, said a police constable and two Frontier Constabulary personnel were also killed.

17 persons, including 15 militants, were killed in a military operation against the militants and fresh incidents of violence in the Swat valley.

The ongoing military operation in Swat marked one year. During the last one year, 189 SF personnel, including 61 policemen, 35 Frontier Constabulary, seven Frontier Corps and 86 Army soldiers, were killed while hundreds of others wounded. The militants abducted 66 SF personnel, including 26 police officials, 36 Frontier Constabulary and four Frontier Corps soldiers. Around 135 important personalities were killed, 89 injured and 39 kidnapped. The SFs killed over 700 militants during the last one year of the ‘Rah-e-Haq Operation’. More civilians than the militants reportedly lost their lives in the military actions, 17 suicide and 148 remote-controlled bomb blasts and other incidents of violence.

SFs killed 10 militants and arrested 17 others in the Dera Bugti area of Balochistan. The SFs were carrying out search operations in the Neal and Zain Koh areas of Dera Bugti when militants ambushed them. The troops seized heavy arms, rockets, hand grenades, light machineguns, mortar shells and landmines from the area during their operations. The Baloch Republican Army’s spokesman Sarbaz Baloch claimed that SFs had killed innocent people working in fields. He told the media on satellite phone that the troops had also used helicopters.

The SFs targeted suspected hideouts of militants in different areas of Pandyalai tehsil (revenue division) in the Mohmand Agency of FATA with artillery killing five militants and injuring an equal number of them.

British-Pakistani terror suspect Rashid Rauf is still alive. His lawyer told the BBC reports that he had died in a US missile attack in Pakistan were "fake". The alleged al Qaeda mastermind of a 2006 transatlantic jet bombing conspiracy was reportedly killed at the weekend in a US drone attack in North Waziristan. "We don’t believe that this story is true... It is a fake story," lawyer Hashmat Ali Habib told BBC radio, adding: "We still believe that my client, Rashid, is alive."

November 25

Eight persons, including six Shias and two Sunnis, were killed and several injured in separate acts aimed at fanning sectarian violence in the Hangu and Kohat districts of NWFP.

Three persons, including the deputy chief of the Matta sub-division, Liaqat Ali Khan, were killed and as many injured in incidents of violence in Swat Valley.

The NWFP Labour Minister Sher Azam Wazir survived an assassination bid in Bannu district, as a police pilot vehicle escorting him was blown up by a remote-controlled explosive device. Wazir was en route to his native village Sarkikhel.

At least six Taliban militants were killed overnight as the Pakistani Army moved in on their hideouts in the Bajaur Agency. "Pakistani artillery pounded Taliban hideouts and underground bunkers, killing six and injuring four others," said local administration official Mohammad Jamil.

In the FATA, United States drones violated the Pakistani airspace again and were seen conducting surveillance flights over various areas of the North and South Waziristan agencies. Provoked by the frequent flights by the drones over their areas, local tribesmen opened fired on them, upon which the spy planes returned to Afghanistan.

The Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) Amir (chief) Mangal Bagh resigned as head of the organisation in a meeting held at Daro Adda Akakhel in the FATA. Sources said the meeting of LI consultative body was held at Daro Adda Akakhel and was attended by elders and notables of the Shlobar, Malakdinkhel, Sepah, Zakhakhel, Akakhel, Jamarkhel and Kamarkhel tribes of the Khyber Agency. Mangal Bagh tendered his resignation, which was accepted by the participants of the meeting and appointed unanimously another Amir, Haji Haleem Shah, belonging to Kamarkhel tribe. The spokesman for the organisation, Misri Gul, said according to the LI charter, the new chief Haleem Shah would lead the organisation for only three months.

Pakistan and India agreed to boost co-operation between their civilian investigation agencies to control cross-border terrorism, illegal immigration, influx of fake currency and liberalise the visa regime under a joint anti-terrorism mechanism. Officials of the interior ministry said the decisions were taken during the composite dialogue, which reviewed proposals by President Asif Ali Zardari for a treaty to make South Asia a non-nuclear region and an economic hub. It was the fifth round of home secretary-level talks. During the two-day dialogue, the Indian side was represented by Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah represented Pakistan.

November 26

Five persons, including three Taliban militants, were killed in two separate clashes between the Taliban and police in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. The first clash erupted when over 100 militants, believed to have entered the city from Darra Adam Khel, besieged the house of Adezai Union Council chief Abdul Malik. According to Malik, the Taliban ordered him to surrender or join them. Upon refusal, they targeted his house with rockets and hand-grenades. Malik’s two relatives, Khayal Gul and Sher Mast, were killed while six people were injured in the attack. Malik said security forces came to his rescue soon and attacked the Taliban. After a two-hour battle, the Taliban fled from the incident site leaving behind two dead bodies.

The TTP would target President Asif Ali Zardari and his allies for their ‘pro-American’ stance, a regional commander told journalists in the Orakzai tribal region. Hakeemullah Mehsud, deputy to Baitullah Mehsud, accused the ANP, PPP and MQM of "working to break up Pakistan in collaboration with the US". The TTP also threatened to ‘cut off’ supplies to American forces in Afghanistan if US drone attacks did not stop. The TTP also displayed one of the two American Humvee military vehicles they had hijacked in Khyber Agency on November 10.

November 27

Five suspected militants were killed when a roadside explosion destroyed their vehicle in the Tiarza area of South Waziristan. Local people claimed that suspected militants belonging to the TTP of Baitullah Mehsud were traveling in a vehicle when it hit a roadside landmine at Tiarza, around 25 kilometers north of Wana. Locals suspect that relations between the groups of Baitullah Mehsud and deceased militant commander Abdullah Mehsud soured during last couple of days, resulting in this incident.

Pakistani intelligence agencies have gathered credible information on the influx of foreign militants and sophisticated weapons into Pashtun areas of Balochistan – with some also headed to Karachi – via the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The sources claimed that the weapons were being supplied to Balochistan’s Chaman, Pishin and Qila Abdullah districts for the BLA, by ‘anti-Balochistan and anti-Pakistan quarters’. They said Pakistani agencies had seized at least 726 missiles in addition to other weapons over the last few days.

The LeT denied any involvement in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in India. The LeT "strongly condemns the series of attacks in Mumbai. The Lashkar has no association with any Indian militant group," said Abdullah Gaznavai, chief spokesman of the group.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani confirmed that his Government had disbanded the political wing of the ISI, the external intelligence service. Gilani''s statement confirmed an announcement by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on November 23 that the ISI''s political wing dealing with domestic politics had been disbanded. "The political wing of ISI has been closed," said a brief statement from Gilani''s media office.

November 28

At least seven people, including a policeman, were killed and 16 others, including four policemen, sustained injuries when a suicide bomber targeted a police patrol vehicle in Bannu district of NWFP. Local sources told that a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a police car patrolling the streets near Tarezi Chowk on the main Bannu-Kohat road.

Seven persons, including six of a family, were killed in fresh incidents of violence in the Swat Valley.

Three militants were killed when the SFs attacked militant hideouts with gunship helicopters in different areas of Bajaur Agency. Sources said SFs targeted hideouts in the Charmang, Chamarkand and Chinar areas of Nawagai and Momand sub-divisions. Troops also reportedly destroyed the hideouts and bunkers of militants during the routine operation.

The outlawed BLA refuted media reports quoting Islamabad-based state intelligence agencies that it is getting external assistance for its operations in Balochistan. Bibarg Baloch, the BLA chief spokesman, said his organisation did not get any external support from the neighbouring states, as reported in the media while quoting the Islamabad-based intelligence sources. However, the BLA would delightedly accept any kind of help offered to it by countries that sympathise with the Baloch people in their struggle for ''independence'', he said. "We have not been very lucky in terms of getting external support like Islamabad. But we welcome such support from friends of the Baloch people as we await such assistance. If Pakistan can misuse the external assistance it gets for fighting terrorism to crush the Baloch then what is wrong if we operate with the help of similar assistance," he said, adding that if the Baloch had really been getting external support, they would not have been vulnerable to attacks by the army and other security forces.

A spokesman for Prime Minister’s House said that a representative of the ISI will visit India instead of the Director General to facilitate investigations into the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Reports earlier said that Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had requested that the ISI chief be sent to India. The request apparently came after ‘confirmation’ of Pakistani nationals’ involvement in the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai incidents and President Asif Ali Zardari’s pledge to co-operate with India in exposing and apprehending the masterminds behind the attacks.

November 29

At least three people were killed and two injured in a missile attack by a suspected United States drone in the Chashma village of North Waziristan. The attack targeted the house of a local tribesman Taj Muhammad, around two kilometres south of Miranshah. There was no immediate information about the identity of those killed. Official sources, however, denied reports of the suspected drone attack.

November 30

Three SF personnel and eight militants were killed and 17 SF personnel sustained injuries in a gun-battle which followed a Taliban attack on a police checkpoint on the Bannu-Miranshah road in Bannu district. Police said the militants attacked the Baranpul checkpoint with rockets and mortars, killing three SF personnel and injuring 17 others. Bannu District Police Officer Mohammad Alam Khan Shinwari said the Taliban escaped with the bodies of seven militants, leaving one body behind. Ahmadullah Ahmedi, a spokesman for the TTP (Hafiz Gul Bahadar group), claimed responsibility for the attack, which he said would continue till US drone attacks were stopped. He also said the agreement reached with SFs in North Waziristan would not be violated and attacks on Government installations and functionaries would be carried out only in the settled areas of the country.

Three policemen were killed and five others were injured when the Taliban militants fired rockets at a police vehicle near Lakki Marwat, said senior police official Mohammad Alim Shinwari.

The SFs claimed killing nine militants in artillery and air attacks on their hideouts in the Mamond tehsil (revenue division) of Bajaur Agency. Four others were injured. A 40-year old woman was killed when artillery shells reportedly hit a civilian area. Air attacks were carried out in Kharkay, Damadola, Gatkai, Irab, Gat Agra, Tarkho and Kass areas.

The United Jihad Council (UJC) chief Syed Salahuddin has called the killing of civilians in the Mumbai terrorist attacks ‘reprehensible’, and denied that any member of his alliance was involved. "Let me be very clear once again that the United Jihad Council does not approve of civilian killings and under its code of conduct such an act is reprehensible," Salahuddin said. "I can say with utmost certainty that none of the Kashmiri jihadi groups has any involvement with the events in Mumbai," he told. Salahuddin said the attacks in Mumbai were probably carried out by an Indian group in response to the oppression of minorities, including Muslims.

A senior leader of the TTP accused the Indian Government of ‘using the Mumbai attacks’ as a pretext to defame Pakistan. "Neither Pakistan nor the mujahideen are involved in the attacks in Mumbai, and India should not use the occasion to blame us for something which we have not done," TTP deputy chief Maulana Faqeer Muhammad said. Faqeer told that the Indian government ‘staged the attacks’ to defame Pakistan.

Pakistan is willing to have an agreement with India to allow each other to question terror suspects in the other country, President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview with CNN-IBN. Asked if Pakistan would allow India to question people it suspects were involved in terrorism on its soil, the president said it was ‘a procedural matter’. Asked if he would close down terrorist training camps allegedly operating in Pakistan, the president said if there was evidence of any camps, he would close them down and take action against people running the camps. He said, "I assure you, if any evidence points out to any camps . . . we will not only close down, but [also] take action against those people who are running those camps." Zardari also said the people of India should see the Mumbai terrorist attacks as an action of ‘non-state actors’. The president said Pakistan would co-operate with India in the investigation "without any hesitation whatsoever, no matter where it may lead".

December 1

Fighter jets and artillery killed 15 Taliban militants in Bajaur Agency. The clashes took place in several areas of Bajaur where troops are engaged in fighting with the Taliban since the launch of an army operation in August 2008. Local administration official Mohammad Jamil said six militants were killed and three others injured in artillery fire in Nawagai, while nine were killed after fighter jets bombarded their hideouts in Mamoond. Jamil added that a woman was also killed when a mortar hit her house in Mamoond.

11 civilians were killed and 66 persons, including two soldiers, injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden mini-truck into the Sangota checkpoint in the Swat valley. The suicide blast brought the roof of a nearby house down, leaving a woman dead. All the dead were civilians waiting at the checkpoint. After the blast, the SFs resorted to indiscriminate firing, which reportedly injured several people. Meanwhile, three persons - a trooper, an arrested militant and a 13-year-old boy - were killed when they came under fire. The SFs subsequently arrested 17 suspected militants during a crackdown.

Eight vehicles, including two armoured personnel carriers of the US-led NATO forces, were destroyed and seven others partially damaged when militants attacked a parking lot in the vicinity of the Pishtakhara village near capital Peshawar, killing two civilians and injuring as many.

December 2

One soldier, six militants and six civilians were killed and several others wounded in an exchange of fire and shelling in Swat valley. According to the Government media centre, the soldier, identified as Shaukat, was killed when militants ambushed a convoy in the Deolai area of Kabal tehsil (revenue division). The Inter-Services Public Relations said that six militants were killed when helicopter gunships shelled their positions. Six non-combatants, four of them members of a family, were killed and several others injured when some shells hit a civilian area.

Six Taliban militants were killed and several others injured in security forces’ operation in several areas of Bajaur Agency. Locals said troops targeted the Kosar, Bai Cheena, Jannat Shah and Charmang areas of Khar tehsil with artillery. Officials said several areas in Nawagai were now under the army’s control.

Three persons, including two women of a family, died and a minor was critically injured when a shell struck their house in lower Chinari village of Lakaro tehsil in Mohmand Agency.

Pakistan proposed a joint mechanism with India to investigate the Mumbai terrorist attacks as part of its offer of complete co-operation in efforts to unearth "the hands behind the dastardly act,". The proposal was made at a briefing by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to foreign diplomats a day before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice begins her visit to the region.

President Asif Ali Zardari said that Pakistan was not involved in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai last week. "I think these are stateless actors who have been operating all throughout the region," Zardari said on U.S. based television channel in an interview. He said: "The gunmen plus the planners, whoever they are stateless actors who have been holding hostage the whole world." Zardari informed that it was wrong to put blame on Pakistan as the person arrested has no connection with Pakistan and he does not posses Pakistani nationality. "The state of Pakistan is in no way responsible," he told.

The Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (also known as Lashkar-e-Toiba [LeT]) has reportedly expressed apprehension about an Indian missile strike on its complex. "Will India attack our centre?... Are they serious" said Abu Hassaan, chief administrator at Jama’at-ud-Da’awa headquarters, known as the Markaz-e-Tayyaba. LeT chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has said that it will be unfortunate if India attacked his organisation’s headquarters in Muridke, as has been indicated in media reports, because the complex housed only educational institutions. In an interview with a TV channel, he denied that the centre contained any training facility for terrorists or jihadis and said that instead of blaming Pakistan India should focus on investigation of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

The US Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, blamed the LeT for the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai. "The same group that we believe is responsible for Mumbai had a similar attack in 2006 attack on a train and killed a similar number of people," said McConnell, speaking at Harvard University.

December 3

14 militants and seven civilians were killed when fighter planes and gunship helicopters targeted various areas in the Lakaro tehsil (revenue division) of Mohmand Agency. Fighter planes and gunship helicopters bombed the hideouts of militants in Ziarat mountain, Ghaziabad, Bagh hill, Bhawatha, Shawa Farsh, Mamad Gatt, Alingar, Hazeena, Chinari and Karer areas.

SFs took control of another important town in Bajaur Agency. According to locals, troops backed by tanks and armoured personnel carriers, secured Nawagai town, near the Afghan border. The militants did not put up resistance and vacated their positions before the troops’ arrival. According to sources, militants had set up a vast network of tunnels and bunkers, as well as ‘detention centres’, in the town.

Five people, including three SF personnel, were killed and six others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber rammed his auto rickshaw into a vehicle of the SFs at Pir Qala area of Shabqadar tehsil (revenue division) in the Charsadda district of NWFP.

Four persons were killed in fresh incidents of violence in the Swat valley. According to the ISPR, a convoy of the SFs came under attack from the militants in Kanju area of the Kabal revenue division, resulting in the death of a soldier besides injuries to two others. Following the attack, the SFs launched a search operation in the area. They claimed to have arrested 21 suspected militants and blown up two houses of militants. Two persons were killed and three others sustained injuries when a mortar shell landed on their house in Sro village located in the militant-controlled Peochar area.

Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the United Jihad Council (UJC), has predicted more Mumbai-like attacks in the near future if India did not review its policy of state terrorism against the minorities and their worship places. He offered full support of the UJC to Pakistan in the given scenario and said in case of a war, which it believed was out of question, Kashmiri fighters would demonstrate what they were capable of doing with the aggressor.

The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Pakistan to co-operate "fully and transparently" in investigations into the Mumbai terrorist attacks. "This is the time for everybody to co-operate and do so transparently, and this is especially a time for Pakistan to do so," Rice told a press conference in New Delhi. "We have to act with urgency, we have to act with resolve and I have said that Pakistan needs to act with resolve and urgency and co-operate fully and transparently. That message has been delivered and will be delivered to Pakistan," Rice said. She said that even if "non-state actors" had carried out the attack, it would still be Pakistan’s responsibility to take "direct and tough action" against them.

Suspects wanted by India in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai will be tried in Pakistan if there is concrete evidence against them, President Asif Ali Zardari said. He told a television channel in an interview from Islamabad that if proof of wrongdoing surfaced, the men would be tried in Pakistani courts and sentenced. The state of Pakistan is in no way responsible for the Mumbai attacks, he said, which were the work of ‘stateless’, meaning non-state, actors. LeT, he said in answer to a question, is a banned organisation in Pakistan and all around the world. "If indeed they are involved, we would not know. Again, they are people who operate outside the system," he claimed.

The White House said that it agreed with the bipartisan congressional commission’s report that Pakistan was closest to the intersection of nuclear weapons and terrorism. "I have no reason to disagree with it," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino when. The bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism reported earlier that if there was a WMD attack on the United States, it would originate in Pakistan. "Were one to map terrorism and weapons of mass destruction today, all roads would intersect in Pakistan," the report said.

The US has given four names of former ISI officials, including Lt-Gen (retd) Hameed Gul, to the UN Security Council to put them on the list of international terrorists. Gul confirmed that he was included in the list of those four or five former ISI officials whose names had been provided to the UN Secretary-General by the US Government to be included in the list of international terrorists under Resolution 1267 of the Security Council.

December 4

The SFs killed 10 Taliban militants in Malam Jabba and Matta tehsil (revenue division) in Swat. "The troops targeted (Taliban) hideouts in Malam Jabba and destroyed a vehicle prepared for a suicide explosion," the spokesman of Swat Media Centre as saying. He said that six militants were killed in the operation. In Matta, the news agency said that troops attacked a Taliban vehicle, killing four militants.

Jama’at-ud-Da’awa officials denied any links with the banned terrorist group LeT at a press briefing at their centre in Muridke, 30km from Lahore. Abdullah Muntazir, deputy spokesman for the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, said at the 75-acre complex that they wanted to refute ‘propaganda’ against them and clear their names in front of the national and international press. Yahya Mujahid, a spokesman of the group, said that although the group offered its philosophical support to militants in Kashmir, they condemned the Mumbai attacks. He added that neither the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa nor the LeT were involved in the attacks. On the status of the group’s leader, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, Muntazir stated that the government of Pakistan was "not yet so weak that it would hand over its own citizens to India."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that enough information was available for acting against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks and forestalling such incidents. "There is a lot of information and it needs to be used to get to the perpetrators and prevent them from doing it again," she said at a news conference after meeting President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani during her brief visit to Islamabad.

Interior Adviser Rehman Malik denied India had provided Pakistan a list of 20 wanted suspects, saying it had asked for three suspects who do not include Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the chief of the LeT. "They gave us three names, two of them are Indian nationals – Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon – and the third is Masood Azhar, the JeM chief," Malik said in Islamabad. He said the two Indian nationals were not on Pakistani soil, and India should provide evidence against Azhar so that the "law can take its own course". He also denied India had asked Pakistan in writing for a visit of the ISI chief.

December 5

A car bomb explosion outside an Imambargah (congregation hall for Shia rituals) near the Qisakhwani Bazaar in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, killed at least 34 persons and injured more than 150. Imambargah Alamdar Karbala and several adjacent buildings in the Kocha Risaldar alley were damaged and the ensuing fire engulfed buildings, markets and vehicles. The powerful explosion also damaged electricity wires, plunging the area into darkness. NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that about 20 to 25 kilograms of explosives were used in the blast, which he said did not appear to be a suicide bombing.

At least six persons were killed and eight others sustained injuries when an explosives-laden vehicle blew up in the Kalaia area of Lower Orakzai Agency. Officials said the suicide bomber was attempting to target a local fair, but the vehicle blew up before reaching the site when a petrol station’s guards started firing at it. Orakzai Political Agent Kamran Zaib told that six people were killed and eight injured in the explosion, but local sources put the death toll at 10, and said 15 people were injured.

Three people were killed in a missile attack by a suspected United States drone in the Mir Ali tehsil (revenue division) of North Waziristan. Two missiles were fired at a house in Kateera village in Khushal Torikhel area, around 20 kilometers south of Mir Ali, locals said. Intelligence officials and residents said those killed in the attack were Taliban militants. Two people were also injured in the attack.

Militants operating in the Swat valley announced a unilateral cease-fire till the third day of Eidul Azha in reverence of the religious festival. A spokesman for the militants said that they had decided to announce a unilateral truce for a week starting from today (December 6). He said the decision was taken to show respect for Eidul Azha.

The LeT chief, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, has advised India to refrain from hurling baseless accusations at Pakistan and focus its attention on solving its internal problems and providing justice to minorities. Muslim states have always given equal rights and protection to minorities, yet Muslims living in secular states have been deprived of their basic human rights and justice, he said during Friday sermon at the Jamia Qadsia mosque in Lahore. Saeed said India was indulging in politics of accusations and blaming Pakistan in order to hide its internal problems.

December 6

13 Taliban militants and a trooper were killed in two clashes in Swat district of the NWFP. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) officials in Mingora said 11 Taliban militants were killed in shelling by helicopters in the Nalkot area. Two more Taliban militants were killed and four wounded in an exchange of fire in the Sambat area of Matta. The officials also confirmed the killing of one trooper in the same incident.

The ANP Senior Vice President, Haji Adeel, said that the NWFP government has ‘lost control’ of Swat district. The ANP leader also questioned the role of thousands of army and paramilitary troops engaged in combating militancy in the valley for more than a year. "What will be the credibility of the military operation in Swat when houses of ministers are destroyed and their family members are queued up for shooting," Adeel said at a seminar organised by the Joint Action Committee.

US Senator John McCain said in Lahore that there is enough evidence of the involvement of former ISI officers in the planning and execution of the Mumbai attack and if Pakistan does not act, and act fast, to arrest the involved people, India will be left with no option but to conduct aerial operations against select targets in Pakistan.

December 7

At least 171 vehicles of the US-led NATO forces, including 62 armoured personnel carriers, were torched by armed attackers in two parking bays on the Ring Road in the vicinity of Pishtakhara in Peshawar. Around 130 vehicles were completely destroyed in the attack, while 40 others were partially damaged. The attack is the biggest ever on NATO logistics in Pakistan, during which a watchman was killed while two others were injured when they offered resistance to over 300 attackers, who were armed with rocket launchers, hand grenades, petrol bombs and AK-47 rifles. A worker at the Port World Logistics on Ring Road near Pishtakhara said 106 vehicles were parked in their parking lot, including trucks, Humvees, cranes, fire brigade trucks and jeeps. Over 60 other vehicles were parked at the Al-Faisal Terminal, located across the Ring Road. The attack is second in the past week after the December 1 similar assault when two drivers were killed and 15 NATO trucks were set ablaze.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that there was evidence to suggest that people living in Pakistan were involved in the recent attacks in Mumbai. "There is evidence of involvement somehow on Pakistani soil," said Rice. "The investigation is still ongoing… Pakistan needs to cooperate transparently. They’ve said that they will. Clearly there are organisations that operate with longstanding involvement in this kind of activity (in Pakistan)," Rice added.

Pakistan''s former ISI chief Hamid Gul said in Islamabad that the United States wants him on a UN list of people and organisations linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban. Gul told Reuters the US moves against him began several weeks ago. He said he had asked his Government for support, adding "I don''t know why America is so much after me." Lou Fintor, spokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad, said he had no information, and added it was Government policy not to comment until action had been taken either by the UN or the US Treasury''s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Security forces have reportedly launched a ‘quiet’ crackdown on activists belonging to the banned LeT, also known as Jama’at-ud-Da’awa in different parts of the country and PoK. In Muzaffarabad, capital of the PoK, a major army operation was under way in the city suburbs against a site being used by the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, which is headed by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. Sources said that more than 20 members of the banned organisation and LeT ‘commander’ Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi had been arrested. However, reports of the crackdown could not be confirmed from the interior ministry or the Inter-Services Public Relations. Local residents in Muzaffarabad, however, said they had seen army personnel taking control of the area along Shawai Nullah, some five kilometres northwest of Muzaffarabad, where the organisation possesses a large plot of land on which several buildings had been built. There were unconfirmed reports of an exchange of fire. However, a Jama’at-ud-Da’awa office-bearer denied that a crackdown had been launched on his organisation in other areas.

December 8

Taliban torched at least 53 vehicles destined for NATO forces in Afghanistan in an attack on the outskirts of Peshawar, the second such raid in two days. Armed gunmen shouting ‘God is great’ attacked Bilal Container Terminal near Jamil Chowk on the Ring Road at around 3am, said Zahid Ali, a local resident. He said he heard gunshots and explosions after which a large part of the terminal caught fire. City Superintendent of Police Chaudary Ashraf said it was a sabotage attack. The number of attackers could not be ascertained, he said, and it was not clear how they entered the terminal and set ablaze the vehicles.

Security forces arrested an alleged mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attacks during a raid on a militant camp. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was among at least 15 people detained on December 7 after the raid on the camp run by the banned LeT in PoK, the officials said. "Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is under arrest. He was an operational commander of the Lashkar-e-Toiba," said a senior security official. Troops backed by a helicopter overran the camp close to Muzaffarabad, the PoK capital, briefly exchanging fire with militants there, a senior intelligence official said. He said more than 12 detainees were being questioned over any possible links to the multiple terrorist in Mumbai.

SFs raided the offices of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (the LeT front outfit) in Mansehra and Chakdara. The NWFP unit chief of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, Attique Chohan, said their charity centre called "Markaz-e-Hafsa" was raided in Mansehra by the SFs. He said some arrests of their personnel were also made and the centre and its record seized by the SFs. Another small office of the group in Chakdara in Lower Dir was also taken over by the SFs.

The army confirmed that it has begun an operation targeting banned organisations in the wake of the attacks in Mumbai last month, but did not name any organisation. "There have been arrests and investigations are ongoing," a statement said, adding further details would be released once preliminary investigations had been completed.

The LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed condemned a raid on the outfit’s camp. "The operation against Jihadi organisations in Azad Kashmir is unwarranted and we strongly condemn it… The government has shown signs of weakness by targeting Kashmiri organisations," said Saeed. "India wants to crush the independence movement of Kashmir using the Mumbai attacks as a pretext," he added.

The Government has rejected India’s demand to extradite three fugitives and urged it to share evidence proving that elements from Pakistan had carried out the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. This was communicated to India in a demarche from Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal in response to India’s second demarche which had listed actions it wanted Pakistan to take. "India has been told that of the three fugitives, Pakistan doesn’t know the whereabouts of two of them, who are Indian nationals — the infamous Mumbai crime kingpin Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, while evidence is needed for action against … Maulana Masood Azhar, the head of the now banned Jaish-e-Muhammad and is a Pakistani," an official said.

The Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) has decided to renew the offer of full co-operation with India – including intelligence-sharing, assistance in investigations and the formation of a joint commission – and vowed not to allow Pakistani soil to be used for terrorist activity against anyone. The DCC meeting which was presided over by Yousuf Raza Gilani at Prime Minister’s House – was the first in nine years.

The Pakistani authorities have placed restrictions on the movement of Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the outlawed JeM, by confining him to his multi-storeyed concrete compound in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur in Punjab province. Official sources said Azhar’s activities have been restricted in the wake of the India’s recent demand to hand him over to New Delhi. Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik said in Islamabad last week that India has given to Pakistan a list of three persons—Maulana Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon—for their immediate extradition.

December 9

A child was killed and four others were injured in a premature suicide blast in the Nari Oba area of Buner District in NWFP. Sources said a congregation of Eid prayer, to be performed at 9 am, in Dagger village was the apparent target of the attack, but the suicide jacket exploded 25 meters away from the Eidgah (open-air mosque), killing a child, Zahid Hussain, and the suicide bomber. Four others Shakeela (6), Stooria (9), Saifullah (8) and Muhammad Hussain (7) were wounded.

Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, said that the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa could be banned on the request of the UN Security Council.

Pakistan will not hand over any suspects in the Mumbai terrorist attacks investigation to India, but will try them under its own laws, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. The minister said India’s demands for the extradition of suspects in the Mumbai attacks were out of the question and that Pakistan, which has arrested 16 people since December 6, would keep them on home soil.

Pakistan has detained the LeT ‘operations commander’, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and the JeM chief, Maulana Masood Azhar, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar confirmed. "Lakhvi was picked up on December 8. Azhar has also been picked up," Mukhtar told.

December 10

The LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and arrested ‘operations commander’ Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi were among those who met the ten terrorists involved in the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, a senior Mumbai Police officer said. "Hafiz Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza and Kahfa are the four who played a prominent role in hatching conspiracy, training the terrorists and uting the plan," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said. Arrested terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman has said that Saeed allegedly gave motivational speeches to the group of ten terrorists while they were training in Muridke in Pakistan, Maria said. Lakhvi, presently placed under arrest by Pakistani authorities, allegedly hatched the conspiracy of carrying out the attacks in Mumbai. "Lakhvi was also present to bid farewell to ten terrorists who left on November 22 from Karachi," Maria added. Hamza and Kahfa allegedly were with the group of ten terrorists throughout their entire training which lasted about a year and a half in four locations in Pakistan, Maria stated.

A UN Security Council panel declared that Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD), a Pakistan-based charity, is a front group for LeT, the terrorist group accused of orchestrating last month''s attacks that killed 195 persons in Mumbai. The panel said JuD is a front for the LeT and now subject to UN sanctions on terrorist organizations. The panel also designated four men linked to the Mumbai attacks as terrorists subject to sanctions. Designated as terrorists subject to UN sanctions were LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, ‘operations commander’ Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf, its chief of finance and Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, a financier with the group. The Security Council''s al Qaeda and Taliban sanctions committee added them to its list of terrorists subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo under a council resolution adopted this year.

The UN sanctions panel also described a number of trusts and foundations as aliases for the al-Rashid and al-Akhtar trusts, which have raised funds for Lashkar. According to the panel, the al-Rashid Trust can be equated with the al-Amin Welfare Trust, al-Amin Trust, al-Ameen Trust and al-Madina Trust. The al-Akhtar Trust aliases, the panel said, are Pakistan Relief Foundation, Azmat-e-Pakistan Trust and Azmat Pakistan Trust.

December 11

Five militants were killed and seven others sustained injuries in an exchange of fire with the SFs in Targhakhi area of the Mohmand Agency. A group of local militants attacked the Targhakhi checkpoint in Pandyalai tehsil near Ghalanai, the Agency headquarters, with mortar guns and other heavy weapons. However, the SFs retaliated with artillery and mortar guns from the Ghalanai headquarters and the Yousafkhel checkpoint, killing five militants on the spot and injuring seven others.

Six suspected militants were killed when a missile apparently fired by a US drone struck a house in the Azam Warsak area of South Waziristan. The missile hit a house next to a seminary, a senior security official told. Local intelligence officials confirmed the strike, saying the missile destroyed the house and damaged the seminary.

Two US military trucks were destroyed when suspected militants attacked a parking lot with petrol bombs on the Ring Road in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. The assailants hurled explosives in the premises of the Bilal Parking and by the time fire-fighters doused the flames two military vehicles had been destroyed.

The Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (front outfit for LeT) chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was placed under house arrest for three months as the countrywide crackdown on the organisation continued.

Police sealed Qudsia Mosque, the headquarters of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa in Chauburji Chowk, and 18 other offices throughout Punjab province. Five offices were sealed in Sialkot. 25 members of the organisation, including Ameer Hamza, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, Maulana Naseer Hamza, Saifullah Mansoor, Da’awa’s director of public relations, Col (retd) Nazir Ahmed, and Rajanpur District president Talib Rehman, were detained. A large number of publications of the organisation were reportedly seized. In Peshawar, the NWFP capital, Police sealed the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa office in Fowara Chowk. The group’s office in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, was also sealed. In Karachi, Police sealed the central office of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

A spokesman for the State Bank said the central bank had frozen bank accounts of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, its leaders and sister organisations — Al-Rashid Trust and Al-Akhtar Trust.

"Instructions have been issued to seal Jama’at-ud-Da’awa offices in all the four provinces as well as Azad Kashmir," said Interior Ministry spokesman Shahidullah Baig.

December 12

Three persons were killed in an armed clash between militants of the banned TTP Swat chapter and Pir Samiullah group in Mandal Dag area of Matta. The victims were from Pir Samiullah group.

12 more containers were set ablaze in a parking lot on the Ring Road in Peshawar, capital of NWFP. This is the fifth attack on NATO logistics since December 1, prompting the authorities to deploy Frontier Constabulary paramilitary troops at the transport terminals to secure supplies. There were reports that five rockets were fired at the Port World Logistic and the VSF Terminal, a parking lot transshipping containers to Afghanistan that was attacked for the third time in less than two weeks. Firing of automatic weapons and shots were also reportedly heard after the explosions at around 2:30 am.

After a meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Government announced it will not hand over any Pakistani wanted in the Mumbai terrorist attacks to India. The meeting focused on the current situation against the back of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, sources said.

Police shut down offices of the JuD across the country and arrested scores of operatives as it continued a crackdown against the banned group.

The Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said that Pakistan had launched a crackdown on JuD to avoid being declared a ‘terrorist state’ by the United Nations. "Had the action not been taken, the UN would have declared Pakistan as a ‘terrorist state’ and imposed economic sanctions… We were left with no option but to take action against JuD," he told reporters at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Rawalpindi.

The Jud said it would mount a legal challenge to the decision to close it down after the United Nations listed it as a terrorist organisation. Mohammad Talha Saeed, son of the LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, condemned the ban, while claiming that the Jud was engaged in relief work. "Dawa was doing welfare work across Pakistan, but the relief work has been stopped," he told a congregation during Friday prayers at a mosque run by the organisation in Lahore. According to him, "There is no moral or legal justification for this action." Later he told that the group would "go to competent courts for our rights" and would resort to the International Court of Justice if necessary.

December 13

Five civilians were killed when a car hit a landmine in the Jano area of Khawazakhela tehsil (revenue division) in Swat.

In Mandal Dag area of Matta tehsil in Swat, Taliban militants killed four people in a gun battle with followers of a local leader.

A commander was among four Taliban militants killed during an operation in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. The Taliban commander – identified only as Ismail – was killed in Bajaur’s Nawagai tehsil, while three other Taliban militants – all of them Afghan citizens – were killed in Sperai area of Mamoond tehsil, adding that several other Taliban militants were also wounded as SFs targeted their positions with artillery and mortars.

December 14

The Taliban killed an anti-Taliban cleric, Pir Samiullah, and his eight followers. Soon after the killings, the Taliban took over Mandal Daag area in Swat from the followers of the cleric. The Taliban also torched the houses of Samiullah and 15 elders of his group, and abducted 25 of his followers. The Taliban later launched a search operation and seized 50 rifles, a rocket launcher and others weapons from the slain cleric’s followers.

The Maulvi Omer, spokesman for the TTP, claimed responsibility for the attacks on NATO supplies and termed it a reaction to the US drone attacks in the Pakistani territory. Talking to reporters by phone from an undisclosed location, Omer termed the recent series of attacks on terminals, used for supplies to NATO and the US forces in Afghanistan, "a response to the Americans for their drone strikes inside Pakistan". He said the TTP would expedite the attacks if the US strikes continued.

The Taliban torched at least 11 trucks en route to Afghanistan carrying NATO supplies, in another attack targeting coalition goods on Peshawar’s Ring Road. Police official Awaz Khan said that 11 trucks were gutted in the fire that started in the early hours of the day at Bilal Terminal on Ring Road. 13 containers had also been destroyed.

The federal Government has launched a crackdown against Al-Amin Trust (AAT), sealing 24 offices and freezing its bank accounts across the country. According to a notification issued to all the provinces, the federal Interior Ministry ordered the sealing of all AAT offices as well as seizing its accounts and licensed weapons. However, no arrests were made nor any weapons recovered.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown blamed the outlawed LeT for the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Addressing a press conference at the President’s House in Islamabad after talks with President Asif Ali Zardari, he urged Pakistan to provide British investigators access to people detained during a crackdown on JuD, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed. Brown had said that British Police wanted to question the suspects because at least three UK nationals were among the people killed in Mumbai. Proposing a new British-Pakistan pact against terror, Brown said: "Three-quarters of most serious terrorist plots investigated by British authorities have links to al Qaeda in Pakistan." Announcing a grant of £6 million for upgrading security apparatus, he said: "We have asked Pakistan to utilise this money for the purchase of car bomb detectors and scanners and training of the bomb disposal squads, airport security, counter-terrorism measures and improvement of police and forensics capabilities."

There is no evidence that the JuD is engaged in acts of violence, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. "If there is evidence (of terrorist activities) we will take action," Qureshi said in Paris.

The ISI, Pakistan external intelligence agency, has no links with the banned LeT, President Asif Ali Zardari said in a Newsweek interview. Asked if the ISI had shared intelligence with the LeT on Kashmir, Zardari said it was "something [that happened] in the old days when dictators used to run the country. Maybe before 9/11, that may have been a position. [But] since then, things have changed to a great extent". He said the group had now been banned in Pakistan, but such groups "keep re-emerging in different forms". "Whenever there is actionable intelligence, we move in before anyone else does," he said.

December 15

The Taliban in Swat killed three people while three others were lashed for allegedly selling narcotics. Militants reportedly beheaded two followers of rival cleric Pir Sameeullah in the Gwalerai area of Matta tehsil (revenue division). The Taliban had killed Samiullah in a clash on December 14 and had taken 25 of his followers as hostage.

A missile strike by suspected United States forces killed at least two Taliban militants and injured three others in Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan. The missile struck the house of local tribesman Ghunchagul Wazir in Tabitolkhel village.

Authorities in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) have released four detained workers of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD) and have also withdrawn Police guards from the residence of the group’s regional head. Chaudhry Imtiaz, Deputy Commissioner of Muzaffarabad, the PoK capital, said Police guards had been removed from the residence of Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi but he had been asked not to leave the area without informing the administration. Maulana Alvi, who heads the PoK chapter of JuD, was put under house arrest in his Karyan village, some 19 kilometres north of Muzaffarabad, on December 11.

Security agencies continued the crackdown against JuD and arrested 12 workers and sealed its assets in different parts of the NWFP. JuD provincial spokesman Atiq ur Rehman Chohan said 12 workers, including Mardan District chief Murad Khan, were arrested.

December 16

SFs killed seven militants, including a prominent commander, when the latter attacked a checkpoint in the Safi area of Mohmand Agency. A spokesperson for the Mohmand Rifles, a wing of paramilitary Frontier Corps, said a group of 120 militants attacked the Darwazgai-2 check-post with heavy weapons on the night of December 15. SFs retaliated and targeted militants’ positions with artillery and mortar guns. The official said seven militants, including an important commander Zar Muhammad alias Zaray, and a trooper from the Mohmand Rifles, Ibad Gul, were killed in an encounter that continued for three hours.

An oil tanker carrying fuel for the NATO forces in Afghanistan was completely destroyed when militants fired rockets on it at Landikotal in Khyber Agency. Sources said the militants came in a double cabin pick-up and fired several rockets at the oil tanker parked at the roadside near the Shalman gate in Cantonment area. The tanker, which was full of GP8 fuel and was bound for the US Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, caught fire and was completely destroyed.

The Provincial Police Officer in Balochistan, Asif Nawaz Warraich, has said that no arrest of any JuD member was made. However, there was one office of JuD in Quetta which was sealed. Speaking to reporters, he said the JuD had specific activities in Balochistan. Their camps set up for collecting relief for earthquake hit people had been closed. He said the federal Government did not provide any list for arrests.

December 17

Seven people were killed and two others wounded in the Swat valley of NWFP. Two bodies were found in the Totano Bandai area of Kabal sub-division. Unidentified persons had killed them and thrown their bodies in the fields. Similarly, the bodies of two others were found in Sambat and Bedara areas of the Matta sub-division. Meanwhile, in Langhar area of Kabal, a person identified as Esa Khan was killed and his body was recovered from the fields. In Kanju Township, a couple was killed for having alleged illicit relations.

Militants in Balochistan attacked an oil tanker destined for NATO forces in Afghanistan near east of the provincial capital Quetta. "At least three armed men intercepted a tanker carrying fuel to Kandahar, shot the driver in his leg and spilled some 60,000 litres of oil," said local Police official Mohammad Irshad.

The Taliban fired rockets at a convoy of trucks taking supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan, killing a woman and injuring a child, officials in Jamrud tehsil (revenue division) of Khyber Agency said. Political administration officials said the Taliban fired three rockets from an unidentified location at a 150-truck convoy carrying supplies for NATO forces in Takhta Baig area of Khyber Agency. The rockets missed the convoy. However, one of them hit the house of tribesman Gohar Khan, killing his wife and injuring his child.

In a written statement, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources informed the National Assembly that 80 attacks on Sui gas pipelines in Balochistan in the last five years caused a loss of PKR 526.923 million to the Government. He said the blasts occurred at Dera Bugti, Sui, Sibi, Mastung and Bolan areas of the province.

Authorities have reportedly claimed neutralizing a clandestine terror network set up by the jailed killer of Daniel Pearl inside the Hyderabad Jail and the Sindh Government has suspended senior Police and jail officials after a large number of cell phones, SIMs and other equipment were recovered. Highly-placed Interior Ministry sources told that the jailed terrorist, JeM cadre Ahmed Omar Sheikh, had also threatened General Pervez Musharraf on his personal cell phone in the second week of November 2008 and planned to get him assassinated by a suicide bomber.

Rejecting Indian claims yet again that there is ‘clear evidence’ suggesting the Mumbai terror attacks originated inside Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari told BBC there is still no conclusive proof. Zardari stated claims that the sole surviving attacker had been identified by his father as coming from Pakistan had also not been proven.

Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, chief of the banned LeT cannot be tried without solid proof, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said. Mukhtar said Saeed had been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order regulation, which only allowed detaining a citizen for 90 days. The detention could be extended, he said, but India had not given solid proof to Pakistan about the involvement of Saeed or the LeT in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. "In the absence of solid proof, neither Hafiz Saeed nor any other leader detained at the moment can be tried in any court of law," the channel quoted him as saying.

December 18

Four persons, including a Security Force official, were killed and another injured in separate incidents of suspected sectarian violence in the Hangu District of NWFP.

The crackdown on the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa charity continues and 55 of its senior leaders have been detained, a private TV channel reported the Interior Ministry as saying. An unnamed Interior Ministry spokesman said the names of 22 of those arrested had been placed on the Exit Control List. He said the detained men were being interrogated and no clues of their link to the Mumbai terror attacks had been found so far.

Large areas of Bajaur and Mohmand agencies have been cleared of ‘miscreants’ and complete Government control would be established in the two agencies by the end of December 2008, Frontier Corps Inspector General (IG) Major General Tariq Khan told President Asif Ali Zardari during a briefing.

The Foreign Ministry has said that the JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar "is wanted by the law enforcement authorities of Pakistan and is at large." The clarification came after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a television channel that Azhar was among the "important people" who had been taken into custody. A few hours earlier, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik told that his Government was still looking for Azhar. "He is not under house arrest. As far as I know, [the report of his house arrest] is wrong. He is not in Pakistan... We don’t know where he is," Malik said. Last week, Pakistan Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar told that Azhar had been "picked up."

A British Pakistani, accused of being a high-profile al Qaeda activist, was found guilty of "directing terrorism." The police claimed this was the first time that someone in the U.K. had been convicted of such an offence. Rangzieb Ahmed (33) was described by prosecutors as a key link between British recruits and al Qaeda leaders. He and co-defendant Habib Ahmed (29) were found guilty of possessing diaries which had names and phone numbers of suspected leading al Qaeda operatives, including Hamza Rabia, believed to be a former top al Qaeda leader. It was stated that they were part of an active al Qaeda cell working on an unknown foreign mission.

December 19

Two drivers and a cleaner were killed when militants opened fire on an empty oil tanker near the Landikotal Bazaar in Khyber Agency. Sources said the oil tanker was on its way to Khyber Walikhel after supplying oil to the US forces in Afghanistan, when the militants attacked it with light and automatic guns, killing driver Rehan and cleaner Shabir on the spot. The co-driver, Wasif, also sustained bullet injuries and was rushed to the Landikotal Civil Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

December 21

Six persons, including two women, were killed and three others sustained injuries when jetfighters targeted the Omaray area of Mamond sub-division in the Bajaur Agency.

An attack by unidentified men destroyed an oil tanker in the Bahadar Khel area of Khyber Agency. However, no casualties were reported. The tanker was carrying 24,000 litres of fuel to a private company in Afghanistan. Sources said the tanker was attacked with a rocket and machine guns.

The Taliban announced imposition of sharia (Islamic law) and to ban cutting forest trees in several areas of Upper Orakzai Agency of FATA. Sources said the announcements were made in sermons from mosques in Khangarpur, Ghundako, Kundi Mushti and Qaum Aakhel areas of Orakzai Agency, adding the local Taliban had also banned the cutting of forest trees in the agency.

A large quantity of arms seized by the SFs during the military operation at Lal Masjid in Islamabad and stored in the Aabpara Police station’s heavily guarded armoury, is missing and was reported as ‘stolen’. Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik has reportedly suspended the Senior Superintendent of Police Ahmad Latif and Superintendent of Police Shahzad Asif and ordered registration of a case against Inspector Naeem Iqbal and 14 other Police personnel on charges of criminal breach of trust, theft and burglary. According to Police, the stolen arms include 47 small machine-guns, three light machine-guns, several AK-47 rifles, rocket launchers and hand grenades, seven rockets and 2,800 bullets.

The LeT was operating in the guise of JuD and Pakistan would have been isolated in the world if the group had not been banned, a private TV channel reported Federal Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi as saying.

Suicide bombings in 2008 surpassed the last year’s figures, with 61 attacks so far killing at least 889 people and injuring 2,072 others, a source in the investigation agencies disclosed to The News. The total number of suicide blasts in Pakistan since 2002 has risen to 140 to date while 56 bombers had struck in 2007. At least, for 29 times, suicide bombers struck in the NWFP, while 16 others hit their targets in the adjacent FATA during 2008. Swat topped the list of Districts where 11 suicide bombers hit targets, killing 101 people and injuring 294 others. Four suicide bombers struck in Peshawar in 2008, killing 99 and wounding 226 others. Punjab witnessed 10 suicide blasts with five in Lahore alone. Three suicide bombers hit their targets in the federal capital Islamabad during 2008. Apart from the killing of three alleged bombers in Karachi, no suicide attack took place in the entire Sindh province. A single incident was reported in Balochistan when a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing a young girl student and injuring 22 persons in Quetta on September 23. Apart from 60 suicide bombers, who accomplished their mission, 12 were those who were caught by the security agencies before hitting their targets. They are still being interrogated in Police custody. All the tribal agencies, Khyber, Mohmand, Bajaur, Orakzai, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan have witnessed either one or more suicide attacks during 2008. The Districts and towns where suicide attacks occurred during the current year include Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Bhakkar, Attock, Peshawar, Mardan, Parachinar, Swat, Darra Adamkhel, Landikotal, Bannu, Bara, Dera Ismail Khan, Dir Upper, Buner, Charsadda, Hangu and Quetta.

December 22

23 people, including 15 militants, were killed in a ground operation against the militants and other incidents of violence in Shakardara area of Swat District.

The ISPR-run Swat Media Centre (SMC) said SFs launched a ground assault against the militants in Shakardarra, the stronghold of Maulana Fazlullah-led militants. It said SFs started a search-and-cordon operation early in the morning, backed by gunship helicopters, and killed 15 militants, besides injuring scores others, and destroyed their command and control centres. According to a SMC press release, the troops were advancing in a calculated way with a view to avoiding civilian casualties. However, the press release claimed that fleeing militants were using local population as human shield and were firing at the advancing SFs, but the troops were exercising restraint. The SFs also conceded casualties of two soldiers besides injuries to an equal number of SF personnel.

Seven suspected militants reportedly belonging to the Punjab province were killed and several others sustained injuries when three US spy planes fired missiles at two vehicles and a house at Karikot, Azam Warsak and Dhog villages of South Waziristan Agency (SWA). Officials and tribal sources told from Wana, headquarters of SWA, that the CIA-operated spy planes fired three missiles, two at vehicles parked at Karikot and Azam Warsak villages, and another at a house, which did not explode. They said the Maulana Nazeer-led Ahmadzai Wazir and Punjabi Taliban had installed heavy weapons on both the vehicles from which they fired at the drones in the morning. Sources close to the militants said three militants hailing from Punjab were killed at Karikot village where the drone fired a Hellfire missile at a double-cabin pick-truck parked near the village. Similarly, they said, four more suspected militants, also from Punjab, died when their truck was hit by the pilotless spy plane. Villagers in Wana said another missile, which the drone had fired at a home at Dhog, could not explode.

Incidents of violence and mortar shelling in Shakardarra killed six persons, including two women, and injured eight others. A mortar shell killed two persons, including Arjumand and his daughter-in-law, while four others sustained injuries. Three bodies were found in Kanju in the Kabal sub-division. One was identified as Akbar Ali of Mardan while the other two could not be identified. In Faizabad, militants shot dead a civilian, identified as Rahmat Ali.

Baitullah Mehsud, central head of the TTP, announced full support to the army against India if it makes any aggression against the country. "Thousands of our well-armed militants are ready to fight alongside the army if any war is imposed on Pakistan," Baitullah said from an undisclosed location. He said the time had come to wage a real jihad they had been waiting for. "We know very well that the visible and invisible enemies of the country have been planning to weaken this lone Islamic nuclear power. But the "mujahideen" will foil all such nefarious designs of our enemies," said the TTP chief. Baitullah said he wanted to assure the nation, Government and army that they should not worry about Pakistan’s western borders with Afghanistan as, according to him, thousands of his armed fighters had already been deployed to safeguard the strategically important frontier. Besides thousands of armed militants, he claimed, hundreds of would-be bombers were given suicide jackets and explosives-laden vehicles for protection of the border in case of any aggression by the Indian forces. "Our mujahideen would be in the vanguard if fighting broke out. Our fighters will fall on the enemy like thunder," he stated.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior, Rehman Malik, revealed that the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) carried out the terrorist attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad. Answering a question in the National Assembly, he said investigations into the Marriott attack had been completed. He said the truck used in the attack was loaded with ammunition in Jhang and it entered Islamabad via Rawat. Two boys from Toba Tek Singh, who had been arrested, facilitated the terrorist act and a charge-sheet against them had been submitted in court.

The Foreign Office in Islamabad confirmed that the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has received a letter written by Mohammad Ajmal Amir alias Ajmal Kasab, the lone LeT militant arrested during the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26.

December 23

SFs claimed to have killed seven militants in Shakardara, while six other people were killed in fresh incidents of violence in the Swat Valley. A military official said SFs also destroyed the militants’ positions in Shakardara. He said troops suffered no loss in the operation.

The NWFP Assembly asked the federal Government to initiate talks with the local Taliban for the restoration of peace, saying military operations were not a solution to the deteriorating law and order. The province’s security situation dominated the discussions in the House, with some opposition members alleging the Government had lost its writ in the Tribal Areas.

Pakistan has ‘satisfactorily complied’ with UN sanctions on terrorist groups, including the JuD, a senior United Nations official has said. Richard Barrett, co-ordinator of the UN Security Council’s (UNSC) Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Committee, told CNN-IBN television that it was difficult to implement the sanctions completely, but the UN had found all Pakistani agencies were co-operative. The committee has the task of monitoring sanctions imposed by the UNSC on declared terrorists. "It is very difficult for a state to implement that (sanctions) completely, but yes in a way the Pakistani government is working to ensure fruitful compliance," he said.

December 24

11 Taliban militants were killed and several others injured when the SFs attacked their hideouts in the Shakardara area of Swat District in the NWFP. A Swat Media Centre spokesman said the SFs, backed by gunship helicopters and artillery, had targeted the Taliban locations at Shakardara in the Matta tehsil (revenue division) and killed 11 Taliban militants. The SFs also consolidated their positions in Sangota, he added. At least 22 Taliban militants and two soldiers have been killed during the last two days of the operation at Shakardara.

The TTP chief, Baitullah Mehsud, said that ‘hundreds of thousands of suicide bombers’ are ready to defend Pakistan in case of war with India. According to a statement, he said, "Despite our differences with the government, the protection of Pakistan and its people is as much our duty as it is of the armed forces. The armed forces and the nation do not need to worry about the western borders in case of an Indian attack."

The NWFP Inspector General of Police, Malik Naveed Khan, said that 154 Policemen were killed and 522 wounded in the fight against militancy and terrorism in 2008. Talking to reporters at Nowshera, he also said Hangu, Kohat, Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan have been declared as NWFP's most sensitive Districts.

December 25

Four persons, including two women, were killed in the ongoing military operation in the Swat valley of NWFP. All the dead belonged to Alamganj town of Khwazakhela, where SFs have been engaged in an operation against the Maulana Fazlullah-led militants.

SFs killed four Taliban militants in the Mamoond tehsil of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. According to a private TV channel, the SFs continued operations against the Taliban in different areas of the tehsil. The SFs also destroyed a number of Taliban hideouts.

The Maulana Fazlullah-led militants operating in Swat Valley have announced a complete ban on female education from January 15 and warned violators of harsh action. Shah Dauran, the vice chief of Swat militants and in charge of the FM radio, announced that no Government or private educational institution would enroll girls. He said all schools and colleges should stop female education by January 15. He threatened to blow up all schools violating the ban, adding the schools providing education to girls would be forced to close. The militants in Swat have so far reportedly bombed or torched around 100 girls’ schools to forcibly stop girls from going to school in the district.

December 26

Seven persons were killed and 10 others, including three SFs personnel, were injured in the ongoing military operation in Swat Valley.

In a suspected sectarian incident, unidentified gunmen shot dead five persons, including a senior Government official, in the vicinity of Gilgit town. Abdul Wahid, the Director of Agriculture Department, one of his associates, his wife and a child and his driver were killed in the ambush after more than one of the assailants opened indiscriminate firing on his vehicle. The deceased director was reportedly on his way to office in the morning when his vehicle came under fire from both sides of the road in an apparently sectarian motivated but highly organised target killing near Naikoi area, about 10 kilometers from Gilgit town. A senior Government official confirmed the deaths, saying at least three suspects had been arrested.

Pakistan is reportedly moving nearly 20,000 troops from the FATA to Kasur and Sialkot amid reports of Indian troop movement and rising tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi. An unnamed senior military official said the redeployed 14th Division would "counter any misadventure by India". "The troops have been moved from the western border areas where the operation [against Taliban] is not going on. But this is a limited movement to reinforce our defence on the eastern border," the official said. He said Pakistan Army had restricted the leaves of its troops and officers in view of the security situation. Two units of the Pakistan Army have been gradually withdrawn from the Lower Dir district bordering the Bajaur Agency and Afghanistan’s Kunar province while troops have also been pulled out of South Waziristan.

December 27

Approximately seven persons were killed in fresh incidents of violence in Swat District while SFs claimed killing 34 militants in the four-day operation in Alamganj area of Khwazakhela. A press release of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said SFs had killed 34 militants, including an important commander Abdul Aziz alias Kotay, during the four-day operation. The troops suffered two casualties, it further said. Three persons were killed when a house in Wenai was hit by a mortar shell, allegedly fired by the SFs, while four others sustained injuries. Locals said SFS targeted the suspected hideouts of militants from the Wenai checkpoint, resulting in the casualties besides the damage to houses. In a similar incident, three persons, including a child, were killed in the Totano Bahdai area of Kabal sub-division. A beheaded body was found in Ranial area of Matta sub-division.

Four people, including three children, of a family were killed when a shell landed at their house in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. The shell fired from an unidentified location hit the house in the Mandal area of Bajaur, sources said.

December 28

43 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car near a polling station in a Government school in the Buner District of NWFP. 16 persons were injured in the blast believed to have been carried out to disrupt the by-election for a National Assembly seat. "It was apparently a suicide attack," Deputy Superintendent of Police, Arsala Khan, said, adding the bomber detonated his explosive-laden car parked near camps set up by different parties in front of the school in Shalbandi village, 5kms from the District headquarters of Daggar. The Swat unit of the TTP claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had been carried out to avenge the killing of its six members in the area four months ago.

Five persons, including a woman, were killed in separate incidents of violence in Swat Valley.

Three persons were killed by suspected militants on charges of ‘spying for the United States’ forces in Afghanistan and their bodies were thrown on the main Bannu-Miranshah Road.

December 29

The death toll from the December 28 suicide attack near a polling station in the Buner District of NWFP increased to 43 after seven bodies were retrieved from the debris overnight.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani denied that the Government has a secret agreement with the Taliban which states the Taliban will not create unrest in the Tribal Areas if troops are withdrawn amid rising tensions on the eastern border. He told reporters in Islamabad that the Government would not support the ‘establishment of a parallel authority’ in the Tribal Areas.

December 30

Five militants and three civilians were killed and several others injured when SFs targeted suspected militant hideouts in different parts of Bajaur Agency. SFs resorted to heavy mortar shelling after militants fired five missiles towards Khar, regional headquarters of Bajaur Agency, from Kohi Mor and Maram Ghundai areas. They said that three missiles landed in the Civil Colony, one fell near a check post in Fajja and one hit the Siddiqabad area. However, no casualty was reported in these missile attacks. The SFs countered the attack and fired mortar shells to target the militants’ positions. Two militants were consequently killed and a number of hideouts destroyed in the shelling on Kohi Mor and Maram Ghundai hills, said official sources. They also said a mortar shell fell in the Tope area, killing three civilians and injuring one. Officials added that three more militants were killed when SFs retaliated to an attack on a check post in the Zor Bandar area, about 18 kilometers from Khar.

Pakistan suspended supplies to more than 65,000 NATO and United States troops in Afghanistan when SFs imposed curfew in and around Jamrud tehsil (revenue division) of Khyber Agency to initiate a military operation against the Taliban. Two militants were among five people killed in the joint operation by military and paramilitary forces. "We have launched crackdown against people creating disturbances, and army, paramilitary and levy force is jointly conducting the operation," Khyber Chief Administrator Tariq Hayat said in Peshawar. Hayat also said the operation was targeting six Taliban-linked organizations.

The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has said that the existence of alleged safe havens in FATA has allowed the resurgence of the Taliban in the region. "Part of the problem there is that nobody has been able to deal with the sanctuary across the border in that ungoverned part of Pakistan," said Rice. She also said Pakistan must "better handle on what’s going on in the Northwest Frontier, because that is the place from which the Taliban is resurgent."

December 31

Three women and a boy of a family were killed and six persons, including four women, were injured when a rocket hit a house in Darra Adamkhel in the NWFP. Officials said the rocket fired from some location in the hills near the town blew up the house, killing the three women and the boy on the spot. Six other members of the family were injured. Sources said this was the first rocket attack in Darra Adamkhel after a lull of one month. They said militants had escaped from the area to the Orakzai Agency after a military operation was launched in the area.

SFs have flushed out the Taliban from various areas of Salarzai tehsil (revenue division) and Khar area of Bajaur Agency, Daily Times reported. The areas cleared of Taliban presence include Arrang and Barrang in Utmankhel tehsil, Roghgan and Pashat in Salarzai tehsil and Khar area of Bajaur. In other areas, the SFs continued targeting Taliban positions with artillery and mortars, but there were no reports of casualties.