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Usually TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan) say that they never carry out attacks on mosques and women. But then they are hardcore criminals so can we trust their claims. Never. I believe somewhere Al-Qaeda, TTP, and even Punjabi Tehrik Taliban along with other militant outfits have been linked. Their sole aim (apparently) is that Pakistan should withdraw US support. That seems a dream now so this means we’d be seeing many more such attacks in future (unfortunately). The involvement of foreign hand claim sounds cliche but then people in tribal areas have been hired (by foreign elements) to fire rockets on Peshawar etc. (That is just a small example). I always believe such outfits can never act without financial support from foreign elements as well as without help from inside. Today was one tragic day for Pakistan indeed!

Taliban Detainee Claims Bin Laden Seen in Afghanistan

A Taliban detainee in Pakistan claims Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden was seen in Afghanistan in January or February of this year, the BBC reports. The inmate, who said he met bin Laden numerous times before the Sept. 11 attacks, said he met with a contact who had seen the Al Qaeda leader days before in Afghanistan. "In 2009, in January or February I met this friend of mine. He said he had come from meeting Sheikh Osama, and he could arrange for me to meet him," he said. The detainee reportedly said the contact is a Mehsud tribesman. "He helps Al Qaeda people coming from other countries to get to the sheikh, so he can advise them on whatever they are planning for Europe or other places,” he told the BBC. His claims couldn’t be verified, but a former CIA analyst told the BBC they should be probed. "If it's true—a big if—this is an extraordinary and important story," the analyst told the BBC. "The entire Western intelligence community, CIA and M16, have been looking for Osama Bin Laden for the last seven years and haven't come upon a source of information like this," he said.

US forces launch fresh Afghan push

More than 1,000 US and Afghan troops have launched a fresh offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, in the first major operation since Barack Obama, the US president, announced his new Afghan strategy. US Marines, Afghan soldiers, and other Nato forces gathered behind Taliban lines in the northern end of the Now Zad Valley of Helmand province on Friday, Nato and US military officials said. Officials said another, larger force was pushing north from the town of Now Zad as part of the operation that the military has termed "Cobra's Anger".  "It has been taken, won and lost again and again by both sides," "Up until now, for the past three or four years the people of Now Zad have been unable to return to the city because of the fighting."

NATO will send 7,000 troops to Afghanistan

NATO's top official says that at least 25 countries will send a total of about 7,000 additional forces to Afghanistan next year and there are "more to come."  Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says that "with the right resources, we can succeed." He spoke after a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, NATO foreign ministers and representatives of non-NATO countries that have forces in Afghanistan. Clinton is seeking reinforcements for President Barack Obama's new influx of troops to Afghanistan.

Hunt underway for Pakistan gunmen

Pakistani authorities have launched a massive manhunt across the garrison city of Rawalpindi for gunmen involved in a deadly attack on a mosque near the country's army headquarters. At least 37 people, including  17 children, were killed in the attack when several gunmen stormed the mosque, opening fire shortly after Friday prayers. Police and witnesses said seven or eight gunmen were armed with assault rifles and hand grenades when they entered the mosque. "They threw three grenades inside the mosque, one was thrown on the ladies' side, and two grenades were thrown inside the [men's section of the] mosque," one witness told  "I could only hear the shouting of the people."