US Drone attack in South Waziristan kills 13

The missile struck in the Mandao district of South Waziristan, a rugged militant stronghold where the Pakistani army has staged offensives in the past, the officials said, giving no further details. The officials did not give their names because they were not authorized to speak to journalists. It took place hours after al-Qaida confirmed that a strike last month in North Waziristan killed one of its commanders — a success in a CIA-led campaign, but a major source of tension plaguing the relationship between Washington and Islamabad. The strikes, which began in earnest in 2008, have killed scores of militants, including foreign al-Qaida members involved in plotting attacks on the West. Their frequency increased in 2010, when they hit militants widely seen as being proxies of the Pakistani army, causing friction between the U.S and Pakistan. Reflecting the tensions, the number of attacks dropped in 2011, and they were cut back even more after November, when U.S. aircraft mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani troops on the Afghan border. Pakistan blocked U.S. supply routes into Afghanistan in protest and said it was renegotiating its ties with Washington as a result. Friday’s attack was the eight this year. In contrast, in 2010, there were more than 150 such strikes. Faced with strong public anger over the drone attacks, Pakistani officials publicly condemn them as an unacceptable violations of sovereignty that boost support for extremism. Privately, the program has long had some level of official sanction and even cooperation. Mansoor was from Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, and moved to North Waziristan in 2008, where he led a faction of some 230 fighters, local insurgents have said. The enlistment of Punjabis in the Pakistani Taliban has been a serious concern for the government, because it makes it easier for the militants to export violence from the border to the heart of the country, where most Punjabis live. Also Friday, suspected militants attacked a vehicle carrying Pakistani security forces in North Waziristan, killing seven troops, army and intelligence officials said. The security forces returned fire, killing eight militants, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

Pakistan new DG ISI

Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani appointed Corp Commander Karachi Lieutenant General Zaheerul Islam new director general of Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Islam has earlier served as the deputy director general of the ISI as a major general. He was then promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and moved to Karachi. Lt Gen. Pasha, who retires on March 18 after having served a one-year extension in tenure granted to him in March 2011, had requested the army chief in December to relieve him of his duties as the ISI chief.

Barack Obama damping down talk of war

"This talk is good talk and shows an exit from illusion," Iran s supreme leader Khamenei s website quoted the leader as telling clerics from the Assembly of Experts, the 86-member body which selects the supreme leader, supervises his activities and can dismiss him. Obama on Tuesday said that Iran s nuclear programme was not an immediate threat, arguing a "window" for diplomacy could forestall an Iranian bomb, while slamming Republican candidates for their hawkish statements demanding military action against the Islamic republic. "But the US president continued saying that he wants to make the Iranian people kneel through sanctions, this part of this speech shows the continuation of illusion on this issue," Khamenei added. Obama stole some of the political limelight from Republican presidential hopefuls by holding his first White House news conference in five months as voters went to the polls in the 10-state primary bonanza dubbed Super Tuesday. Obama slammed Republicans for "big talk" and "bluster" and failing to consider the costs of war with Iran. His remarks came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he could not wait "much longer" for diplomacy on Iran to work. Western governments and Iran s regional arch-rival Israel suspect that Tehran is seeking an atomic weapons capability under the guise of what it insists is a civilian nuclear programme. The UN Security Council has slapped four sets of sanctions on Iran over its failure to heed repeated ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment. The European Union and the United States have imposed further, unilateral sanctions aimed at crippling Iran s oil and financial sectors. "The continuation of this illusion (that sanctions might deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear programme) will hurt the American officials and will lead their calculations to defeat," Khamenei said. His comments come as long-stalled talks between the major powers and Iran on its nuclear programme are poised to resume. The so-called P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany called on Iran on Thursday to enter into a "serious dialogue" and "without pre-conditions." "We call on Iran to enter, without pre-conditions, into a sustained process of serious dialogue, which will produce concrete results," a joint statement said. They said their readiness to resume negotiations was "on the understanding that these talks will address the international community s longstanding concerns and that there will be serious discussions on concrete confidence building measures."

Taliban behind killing six UK soldiers

Mujahedeen (holy warriors) of the Islamic emirate have reported that a land mine of mujahedeen blew apart a tank of British invading forces in Greshk district," the Taliban said in a statement on their website "All the invaders on board were incinerated," it added. The British defence ministry said the Warrior vehicle was hit by an explosion in Helmand on Tuesday, without specifying the source of the blast. There had been speculation the explosion, which wrecked the heavily armoured tank-tracked vehicle, could have been caused by a Soviet-era mine. Military sources said Thursday that while the blast was still under investigation it was now believed to have been caused by an IED, or improvised explosive device -- a favourite weapon of the Taliban. The deaths of the six soldiers took the British toll in the war to more than 400 since 2001, when the Taliban were toppled from power by a US-led invasion. It was the biggest British loss of life in a single incident in Afghanistan since a Nimrod aircraft crashed in 2006, killing 14 crew. Britain has around 9,500 troops serving in the US-led NATO force of 130,000 in Afghanistan.

Pakistan: Ex-chief Mehran Bank Yunis Habib revelations

Ex-chief of the Mehran Bank Yunis Habib has sought unconditional pardon from the Supreme Court. According to the details the ex-chief of the Mehran Bank Yunis Habib has admitted paying the sum of Rs 350 to 400 million on the orders of the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan and ex-COAS Mirza Aslam Beg. He prayed that he had no option other than complying with the said order. The money was allegedly paid to get the Islami Jamhoori Etihad elected in the general elections against Pakistan People’s Party. He also disclosed Roedad Khan forced him to file a case against Asif Ali Zardari. He also mentioned the name of Col Akbar who gave him the account numbers for transferring the money. General Aslam Beg arranged Younus Habib’s meeting with president, he allged. He also disclosed Aslam Beg demanded that amount for the sake of national interest. The court adjourned the hearing till March 9. Later, former ISI Chief Asad Durrani submitted his reply to the Supreme Court. According to sources, Durrani has admitted to distributing Rs 140 million to the politicians. He told the Supreme Court that the country’s top military and political leadership forced him to arrange funds for the anti-PPP politicians before the elections in 1990.  Around 140 million rupees were given to the Inter Services Intelligence, the statement further said. Habib said that the politicians were hesitant in taking money from the ISI therefore he was used for the purpose. He apologised for being a part of the scandal in his statement and said he was under tremendous pressure and was left with no choice other than to follow the orders. Yunis Habib said he had given Rs 70 million to Jam Sadiq and Rs 15 million to Pir Sahib Pagara & MQM chief Altaf Hussain. He also said that ISI directly approached Nawaz Sharif and he was not part of that contact.