Students kidnapped by Pak Taliban freed in Waziristan

The kidnapped students were being escorted by militants in four to five cars and the Taliban intended to take them to South Waziristan,Abbas told reporters. “In an action,the army intercepted this convoy at a place called Ghariom and there a fire fight took place (during which) the terrorists fled. After an hour,71 cadets and nine staff members (of the college) were recovered,” he said. All the cadets and staff members were safe,he added.

Abbas said the students and staff members were kidnapped on Monday at a place called Baka Khel,located along the boundary between North Waziristan Agency and Bannu district of the North West Frontier Province. After learning of the kidnapping of the students,the military blocked all routes to South Waziristan,he said.

Asked whether the kidnapping was connected to the military operations against the Taliban in Swat and adjoining areas of the NWFP,Abbas said it was a “pure act of terrorism” directed against children and civilians. He pointed out that the army had not initiated any offensive or action against the Taliban in South Waziristan and was only taking “defensive measures” after militants attacked a convoy and a check post.

US,Israel creating rift between India and Pakistan,says Libya’s Gadhafi

Washington: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi believes it is the US and Israel which are creating sharp differences between India and Pakistan,so that the latter could not target its “Muslim bomb” against the West. “The Pakistanis are told that their enemy is the Hindus,not the Jews or Christians,and therefore their bomb should be directed towards them,the Pakistanis’ immediate enemy,and not anyone else,” he wrote in The Washington Times. Similarly,the Indians are led to believe their real enemy is Pakistan.

Footage of suicide attack on ISI office released; Govt says terrorists identified

Islamabad: Footage of a suicide attack on offices of the police and ISI in Lahore released on Tuesday by authorities showed how heavily-armed terrorists managed to cross several barriers to reach their target. The footage,captured by CCTV cameras,showed a van used by the terrorists jumping a traffic light and heading towards a road leading to the offices of a police rescue unit and the Inter-Services Intelligence agency on May 27. Rana Sanaullah,the Law Minister of Punjab province,said the perpetrators of the attack had been identified. They belong to areas where the military is conducting operations against militants.