Taliban blow up Pakistan girls school: official

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Taliban blew up a girls' school in Pakistan's Khyber district, where troops are fighting against militants in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday.

Militants detonated explosives overnight at the government-run school in Bazgarah town, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Peshawar, capital of the violence-plagued North West Frontier Province.

"The building had 21 rooms. All have been completely demolished," local administration chief Shafeerullah Wazir told AFP by telephone.

There were no casualties because the property was empty at the time.

"Taliban and their local allies are responsible. They are destroying educational institutions to avenge the military operation against their hideouts in the area," said Wazir.

"This was the ninth educational institution blown up in Khyber over the past six weeks," he added.

Islamist militants opposed to co-education and subscribers to sharia law have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly for girls, in northwest Pakistan in recent years.

The fabled Khyber tribal region is the main land bridge to neighbouring Afghanistan and the principle supply route for NATO troops fighting an eight-year Taliban insurgency across the border.

Pakistani troops launched an offensive in Khyber in September in a bid to flush out the Taliban and homegrown militant group Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam) led by local warlord Mangal Bagh.

The United States is increasing pressure on Pakistan to crack down more on militants hunkered down in its lawless tribal belt, branded the most dangerous place on Earth and the chief sanctuary of Al-Qaeda.

Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izrDVEHq8nBxylR9Wv0o727NVDrw

US says Pakistan holding up visas

Pakistan has been holding up visas for US officials and contractors and continued delays could have an "impact" on the effectiveness of aid programmes in the country, the US State Department said on Thursday.

Hundreds of visa applications and renewals for US personnel have been delayed and the United States has raised the problem with Pakistan's senior leadership, deputy spokesman Robert Wood said.

"We've expressed our concern about the delays and the impact that this could very well have on our programmes and activities," Wood said, adding, "Should this continue, it indeed will have an impact."

The New York Times reported the delays were part of a campaign by Pakistan's intelligence services and military to harass US diplomats who have been pushing for the Pakistani government to intensify the fight against the Taliban in Pakistan.

Cracking down on the Taliban is seen as critical for the US effort to defeat the militant group across the border in Afghanistan, where President Barack Obama is sending an additional 30,000 troops.

The United States gives the Pakistani military millions of dollars in annual aid for counter-terrorism operations, and earlier this year Congress approved a $7.5-billion aid package over five years to help build democratic institutions and the economy in the country.

The United States is concerned some of the aid programmes "are grinding to a halt," a diplomat told the Times.


Source:hindustantimes.com/

Pakistani forces kill 10 Taliban militants

Pakistani troops have killed 10 Taliban militants in the country's restive northwestern tribal region that borders Afghanistan, a security official said Monday.

Major Fazalur Rehman, a spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said the rebels died during a gunfight in Kurram, one of the eight tribal districts where Pakistani forces are carrying out assaults against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.


'Our forces also destroyed five vehicles including the vehicle of a local commander,' said Rehman.


The Kurram district is emerging as a new centre of Islamist militancy as hundreds of Taliban militants fleeing the ongoing operation in South Waziristan tribal region take refuge there.


Predominantly a Shia region, the Kurram district has seen deadly sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni Muslim tribesmen with the Taliban supporting the latter.


In return, the Sunni militants provide Taliban militants, who are also Sunni, with shelter and facilities to launch cross-border attacks on international troops in Afghanistan.


Early this year, more than 200 people were killed and hundreds more injured in weeks of fighting between the rival Muslim groups.

Source: sify.com/