PESHAWAR: Ten security officials and forty militants were killed during clashes in the Kurrum agency.
According to official sources, thirty two security officials were also injured during the clashes which continue in the Kurrum agency.
AFP adds: Helicopter gunships were mobilised when the fighting broke out in the same Jogi area as clashes that killed six soldiers on January 25 in the district of Kurram, part of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border.
At the time, security forces claimed to have taken control of Jogi, which is strategically located near Orakzai district.
A senior military official told AFP that "more than 300 Taliban attacked" the checkpost at around midnight in central Kurram, which is on the Taliban route into North Waziristan and onto the Afghan border.
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has sought complete report from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Chief Minister Punjab Inspection Team by February 06.
The SC also instructed the Lahore High Court (LHC) appointed commission to continue the probe in spurious drugs case.
The SC took suo moto notice of the deaths of more than 90 heart patients under treatment at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), either from spurious drugs or due to wrong prescription of blood thinning and lipid lowering medicines.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took notice of a note initiated by Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and issued notices to the attorney general, Punjab advocate general, federal and provincial secretaries, DG FIA and IG Punjab.
A three-member bench, headed by Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, heard the case. The Punjab Advocate General apprised the court of the investigation made by the Chief Minister Punjab Inspection Team. He told the bench that a forensic laboratory is also probing the matter.
Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani asked the Advocate General if no one is held responsible why the people are being arrested.
The FIA infomed the court that all the record is under possession of CM's Inspection Team and it is not pessible for them to proceed.
The court then ordered the FIA and CM Inspection Team to submit reports by February 06.
NEW DELHI: India's Supreme Court adjourned an appeal hearing on Tuesday into the death sentence handed down to the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Mohammed Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai in attacks which lasted nearly three days and killed 166 people, has appealed for his sentence to be overturned after he was convicted in May 2010.
The 24-year-old was found guilty of a series of crimes, including waging war against India, murder and terror acts.
One of the two Supreme Court judges due to hear the appeal was unavailable on Tuesday, forcing the adjournment, officials said. No date was immediately set for the next hearing.
Kasab's court-appointed lawyer Raju Ramachandran told AFP that his job was "a call of duty", but declined to talk further about the case.
Kasab's death sentence was confirmed by a state high court in Mumbai last year. If he loses his Supreme Court appeal, he will be able to appeal for clemency from the president.
Ujjwal Nikam, who prosecuted the case in Mumbai on behalf of the Maharashtra state, is seeking to push through the death sentence.
"This is the rarest of rare cases," Nikam told AFP. "He should not be entitled to any mercy."
At the trial, the prosecution produced fingerprint, DNA, eyewitness and television evidence showing him opening fire and throwing grenades at Mumbai's main railway station in the bloodiest episode of the attacks.
Kasab -- who is in jail in Mumbai -- initially pleaded not guilty but later made a confession, admitting to being one of the gunmen sent by the banned LeT militant group.
He then reverted back to his initial denial and said he was framed by the police.
Pakistan has indicted seven alleged perpetrators over the attacks but they have not been brought to trial, triggering Indian accusations that the process is a sham.
Pakistani investigators and lawyers will visit India next month to gather more evidence ahead of any trial in Islamabad.
Most death sentences in India are commuted to life imprisonment, and convicts can sit on death row for years awaiting a final decision. (AFP)
PESHAWAR: At least three people were killed and eight injured as a result of a suicide attack in the Pakha Ghulam area.
Among the eight injured two are children. Five of those injured are in critical condition.
According to initial reports the explosion took place at an under construction house belonging to the leader of a banned organisation (Ansar-ul-Islam).
Police are gathering evidence from the site of the suicide attack.
LAHORE: Three persons lost their lives in Lahore due to the drug reaction that has now pushed the toll to 85 on Saturday, Geo News reported.
According to health department, 60-year-old Rasheedan Bibi, 70-year-old Sarwar Begum and 42-year-old Rehmat lost their lives today due to substandard drugs’ reaction, therefore, the toll now stands at 85.
On the other hand, the toll is 109 following the statistics confirmed by Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif.
The toll is constantly increasing due to the substandard drugs provided at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has instructed to widen the scope of probe and even considering the minute details of the case.
The health department is retrieving the contaminated drugs from the patients.
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BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber set off an explosives-packed car outside a Baghdad hospital on Friday, killing 28 people in the capital's deadliest day in a month, amid a political crisis that has stoked tensions.
The attack also left 50 people wounded.
The 11:00 am (0800 GMT) attack struck outside Zafraniyah hospital in east Baghdad as a funeral procession was transporting the bodies of a family who had been killed in the capital on Thursday.
Helicopters flew overhead as a heavy security presence cordoned off the site of the explosion, while distraught witnesses screamed in anguish.
A policeman at the scene, who declined to be identified, said: "The suicide bomber targeted the funeral procession. "They were following a tradition that you carry the bodies of the dead from the hospital for a short while before transporting them in a car. At that moment, the suicide bomber attacked," said the policeman, who was unhurt but covered in dust and debris from the bombing.
A medic at Zafraniyah hospital said the attack killed 28 people and wounded 50. At least four women were among the dead. (AFP)
ISLAMABAD: The former media coordinator of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Khurram Rasool admitted today that he had been the media advisor for the chief executive.
While recording statement before the Supreme Court (SC), he said my family has been threatened, insulted and my children could not go to school for the past 1 year.
'I was told even PM will be kidnapped, I surrendered as I have confidence in courts. 'Claims of Afghan Carpet are being heard in Sindh High Court (SHC) and only Rs 10-11 million remain outstanding.
Rashid A Rizvi, the businessmen's lawyer said Khurram gave cheques from accounts that had been closed and allegations of threats are wrong.
The former media coordinator Khurram Rasool was presented before the SC today.
Khurram Rasool surrendered himself to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on early Friday morning. He has been convicted in the banking fraud case and Rawalpindi Accountability Court had sentenced Khurram Rasool to three years in jail on Thursday.
The Supreme Court on January 25 directed FIA to immediately arrest Khurram Rasool and produce him on January 27.
The three-Judge bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez, in its order also warned Director General FIA Tahseen Anwar Shah to comply with its directive, otherwise, failure would have serious legal consequences.
The bench was hearing an application moved by Parvez Hussain, a businessman of Afghan carpets, accusing Khurram Rasool of defrauding him of Rs 430 million.
FIA Additional Director General Sajjad Ahmed apprised the bench that they had received statement of Khushnood Lashari Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Waseem Ahmed and Malik Iqbal, former Director Generals of FIA, in which they had denied the allegations of influencing the investigation of case.
Talking to the media after surrendering, Khurram said that he has been receiving life threats, therefore he went on missing. He said that his family was also facing threats and his children could not attend schools for one year.
Khurram Rasool said that he was forced to signed cheques. He showed confidence over judiciary and hoped justice.
