A suicide bomber killed 18 people, including nine policemen, in an attack on a police checkpoint in Charsadda. The Supreme Court released the former leader of the Red Mosque on $2,500 bail. President Zardari claimed that sharia is not being enforced in the Malakand Division.
An Islamist member of parliament was assassinated in Mogadishu. Shabaab ordered women to wear the veil and businesses to close during prayer time in Baidoa. Nine people were wounded during clashes between government security forces in Mogadishu. A Puntland court sentenced 37 pirates to jail terms of three years each.
Eleven Iraqis were killed and 23 more were wounded in a bombing in Kirkuk. Security forces captured 149 insurgents in Basrah and detained two “gunmen” in Al Kut. US troops killed one insurgent and captured two more near Kirkuk.
Today’s suicide attack against a police checkpoint in Charsadda is the latest in a series of major attacks against the police, the Army, the Frontier Corps, and other Pakistani security and intelligence services since July 2007.
More than 300 women were assaulted while protesting outside the mosque of a cleric who sponsored the controversial marriage law that legalizes rape. The United Nations admits it misspent more than $26 million in US aid money between 2003 and 2006.
Muslim cleric seeks the release of Abu Sayyaf hostages
Maulana Abdul Aziz, the leader of the radical Lal Masjid who led a revolt in the heart of Islamabad, is released on bail by Pakistan’s Supreme Court after serving less than two years in jail.
Video of Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) terrorist training camp in Pakistan
Algerian militants strike from eyries
Al Qaeda thrives in the Sahara deadlock
In recruiting an Afghan militia, US faces a test
US says new troops push Taliban away from Kabul
We™re sick of war: a Taliban leader risks his life to point out a new route to peace
With shariah in Swat, Army action will be justified
China leans on Pakistan to deal with militants
American Al Qaeda operative says Western countries™ economies ‘on the brink of failure’
The TNSM will seek to impose sharia in other parts of Pakistan. The Swat Taliban said it would not carry arms in public areas but will not turn in its weapons. Sufi Mohammed said the Swat Taliban are immune from prosecution for past crimes. The Taliban took a Sikh leader hostage in Arakzai.
The Malakand Accord has boosted the Taliban and al Qaeda in the Swat Valley and beyond. New training camps are being established and recruitment is up as the Taliban flaunts its power.
Cairo labels Hezbollah chief ‘war criminal’
Iran working on new rockets
US to donate unmanned military aircraft to Lebanon
Siraj Haqqani said Osama bin Laden is alive and directing al Qaeda’s war against the West and Middle Eastern and Asian governments. “It has been a long time since I lost contact with Al-Qaeda’s leader, but I know he is still alive and leading Al-Qaeda combatants against foreign forces.”
The Taliban in Nimroz province murdered a couple for planning to elope. A Canadian soldier was killed in an IED attack in Kandahar. One policeman was killed during a Taliban attack on a checkpoint in Herat province. Iran offers to train the Afghan police.
Awakening fighters abandoned 10 checkpoints in Babil after not being paid; the men were replaced with Iraqi soldiers. Security forces detained 73 insurgents in Basrah, 17 in Fallujah, and five more in Diyala, defused seven bombs in Baghdad, and found a large cache of rockets in Fallujah. Al Qaeda bombed four homes in Baqubah.
US troops could stay in Mosul past June 30
A Hezbollah cell leader captured in the Sinai admitted to plotting three suicide attacks against Israeli tourists inside Egypt. Sami Shihab, the cell leader, said the attacks were to be carried out simultaneously and were designed to avenge the death of former Hezbollah military commander Imad Mugniyah.
Ten people were killed after Islamist fighters and African peacekeepers exchanged mortar fire in Mogadishu on April 12. Two more people were killed after Shabaab fired mortars at the Mogadishu airport as a US congressman was departing. Leaders of the influential Hawiye clan said they have been threatened for participating in the peace process.
Afghanistan fears Swat deal may harm its security
Somali pirates seized four more ships and captured 60 hostages over the past 24 hours. Pirates vowed to kill future US and French hostages after special operations forces killed several pirates. “We have decided to kill US and French sailors if they happen to be among our future hostages,” a pirate said.
Taliban recruiting anew in Swat