FACTBOX-Security developments in Pakistan, June 27

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Following are security developments in Pakistan at 1036 GMT on Sunday.

ORAKZAI – Warplanes targeted militants’ positions in the northwestern region of Orakzai, killing eight militants and destroying two hideouts, a government official said.

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN – Security forces killed four militants and wounded six in a clash after militants attacked them in the region of Makeen, 70 km (43 miles) north of the area’s main town of Wana, a military official said.

(Compiled by Kamran Haider; Editing by Chris Allbritton) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: here)

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North Korea puts military on alert – Yonhap

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has reportedly ordered his military to be on combat alert as tensions rise sharply on the peninsula after the South accused its neighbour of sinking a warship.

The report by the South’s Yonhap news agency immediately hit already nervous Seoul financial markets, with the main share index dropping more than three percent.

Yonhap quoted a local group of North Korea watchers as saying their sources there had told them Kim’s command had been broadcast by a top military official.

There was no reference to the order on North Korean media seen outside the reclusive state nor any immediate comment from South Korean officials.

Seoul on Monday announced it would ban all trade with the North and stop its commercial ships using South Korean waters, moves likely to further squeeze the already ruined North Korean economy.

Both sides have stepped up their angry rhetoric after international investigators late last week blamed the North for torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors in one of the deadliest clashes between the two since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The United States, which has 28,000 troops on the peninsula, threw its full support behind South Korea and said it was working hard to stop the escalation fury getting out of hand.

On the other side of the Cold War border, the North keeps about one million soldiers, one of the world’s largest standing armies.

But they are poorly equipped and analysts say the North is unlikely to risk full scale combat against much better armed U.S. and South Korean troops.

South Korea is just as reluctant to go to war, aware it would send investors fleeing from Asia’s fourth largest economy.

Analysts say the main risk is that small skirmishes along the heavily armed border could turn into broader conflict.

The South’s financial markets are already jittery over the increasing angry war of words between the two Koreas, which still have not signed a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.

“The Yonhap report, while still to be officially confirmed, chilled investor sentiment as it highlighted South Korea’s geopolitical risks. And timing for such news could not be worse, as market sentiment was already shaky with renewed euro zone financial fears,” said Hwang Keum-dan, a market analyst at Samsung Securities.

“The stock market will have a hard time recovering until these two big uncertainties are somewhat resolved,” she said.

South Korea’s won also extended losses, falling 4.5 percent to a 10-month low against the dollar, driven down by the combined euro zone and North Korea concerns.

The authorities were seen intervening to prevent too fast a drop.

U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on Monday he would take the issue to the U.N. Security Council, whose past sanctions are already sapping what little energy North Korea’s communist economy has left.

In what several diplomats in New York said was an unusual intervention in Security Council matters, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed confidence the Council would take “appropriate” measures.

The United States, which backs Seoul, said the situation was “highly precarious” and it would take part in a joint naval exercise with the South.

China, the North’s only major ally, urged calm.

The Pentagon announced plans for a joint U.S.-South Korean anti-submarine drill “in the near future” and said talks were underway on joint maritime interdiction exercises.

Seoul believes a North Korean submarine infiltrated its waters and fired on the Cheonan.

(Additional reporting by Jungyoun Park and Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Pak Army Major arrested over alleged links with failed Times Square bomber

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Los Angeles, May 19 (ANI): Pakistani security agencies have reportedly arrested an Army major, who is said to have had contacts with Faisal Shahzad, the US civilian of Pakistan origin accused of plotting the botched Times Square bombing.

It is for the first time that a Pakistan Army official has been linked directly in the failed bombing plot, however, authorities are mum on the major’s links with Shahzad.

Sources privy to the arrest said that the military official had met Shahzad and that both had frequent chats over the cellphone also, The Los Angeles Times reports.

Meanwhile, US and Pakistani agencies continue to investigate Shahzad’s terror trail, and the truth behind his claims that he had met the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani (TTP) chieftain Hakimullah Mehsud during one of his many visits to the extremist stronghold North Waziristan.

Shahzad, who appeared in a court in New York on Tuesday, has told U.S. investigators that he had gone to North Waziristan, where he met with Taliban leaders and got training in bombmaking.

According to Pakistani and US officials briefed about the investigations, Shahzad had likely visited Mohmand, a lawless tribal region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border which is considered as the hub of the Taliban and other extremist outfits. (ANI)

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Pak now has two of Shahzad’s ‘collaborators’ in custody: US official

May 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 15 (ANI): At least two men suspected of having helped fund Faisal Shahzad, the man behind the botched Times Square bombing plot are currently in custody of Pakistani authorities, a top US military official has said.

Speaking on conditions of anonymity, the official revealed that the Pakistani authorities have detained at least two suspects in connection with providing money to Shahzad, The Daily Times reports.

Earlier, media reports said that Pakistan has arrested a man, who claims to have helped Shahzad.

“The suspect in Pakistani custody is believed to have a connection to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Clues have added to authorities” understanding of the plot, but what is definitely true is that a lot of this comes from the statements of people directly involved,” The Washington Post had quoted a US intelligence official, who refused to be named, as saying.

U.S. officials declined to identify the suspect, but said American investigators have direct access to him, and described him as a facilitator for the TTP.

Officials privy to the probe said the suspect, during interrogation, described the whole story about the Shahzad’s arrival in Karachi last year and his travel north to Waziristan for training with elements of the Pakistani Taliban.

However, some other US official, briefed on the investigations said there are some “conflicts and disconnects” in the accounts of Shahzad and the man in custody.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said no “formal” arrests have been made concerning the May 1 New York terror plot.

“I would like to tell you that there has not been any formal arrest by us,” Malik said when asked whether Pakistani agencies have detained any accomplice of Shahzad. (ANI)

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Pakistan links of Times Square suspect grows stronger

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 7 (IANS) Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American suspect in the Times Square bombing attempt, has been linked to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and a Yemeni-American militant cleric who has inspired several recent attacks and plots.

The extent of Shahzad’s involvement with TTP has not been determined and could range from communications to training and does not necessarily mean that TTP directed the attack, CNN reported Thursday citing law enforcement and US intelligence officials.

CNN cited another official as saying 30-year-old Pakistani-American connections to TTP were ‘plausible,’ but noted that numerous connections among insurgent groups in Pakistan made it difficult to zero in on a single responsible group.

New leads developed from the Pakistani end of the investigation show Shahzad likely had training in Pakistan from extremists, CNN said citing another official who would not say if the training was specific to the Times Square bombing attempt. Investigators had not concluded from which group Shahzad may have received help, the news channel said citing yet another official.

But the New York Times said investigators believe he was trained by the Pakistani Taliban which previously focused mainly on Pakistani government targets. The influential daily cited a senior military official as saying Shahzad had told interrogators that he met with Pakistani Taliban operatives in North Waziristan in December and January. Later he received explosives training from the same operatives.

The Times also cited an official as saying Shahzad has told investigators that he was ‘inspired by’ the violent rhetoric of Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki Awlaki.

To counterterrorism officials it is no surprise to find that a terrorist suspect had been influenced by Awlaki, 39, now hiding in Yemen, who has emerged as perhaps the most prominent English-speaking advocate of violent jihad against the United States, the Times said.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration took the extraordinary step of authorising the killing of Awlaki, making him the first American citizen on the Central Intelligence Agency’s hit list, the daily noted.

In two recent US cases, Awlaki communicated directly with the person accused in the attack, the Times noted.

Nidal Malik Hasan, the US Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in November, exchanged about 18 e-mail messages with Awlaki in the year before the shootings.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic airliner on Christmas Day, is also believed to have met Awlaki during his training by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

But it is unclear whether Shahzad ever directly communicated with Awlaki, the Times said.

Multiple media reports said a day before the failed attack, Shahzad carried out a dry run, parking his Isuzu SUV on West 38th Street between 9th and 10th avenues a few blocks from Times Square to be used the following day as a getaway car.

But on Saturday, after he left the smoking Pathfinder on West 45th Street just west of Broadway and walked to the Isuzu, he realised he didn’t have the Isuzu keys, the reports citing unnamed sources said. So he headed to Grand Central Terminal and boarded a train to Connecticut.

The Wall Street Journal said while investigators have so far found no evidence of any US accomplices – indeed, the fact that he parked his own getaway car suggests he was acting alone – they continue to chase leads in the case.

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Times Square accused says inspired by Yemeni-American militant al-Awlaki

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 7 (ANI): The Pakistani-American man accused of trying to detonate a car bomb in Times Square last Saturday, has told investigators that he drew inspiration from Yemeni-American militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

The New York Times quoted an American official, as saying that Faisal Shahzad had said he was “inspired by” the violent rhetoric of Awlaki.

“He listened to him, and he did it,” the official said, referring to Saturday’s attempted bombing on a busy street in Times Square.

Meanwhile, a senior military official said Thursday that Shahzad had told interrogators that he met with Pakistani Taliban operatives in North Waziristan in December and January.

He added that he had also received explosives training from the same operatives.

Counter-terrorism officials want to know how Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen who had earned an M.B.A., married and had children and worked in several corporate jobs, came to embrace violence.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration took the extraordinary step of authorizing the killing of Awlaki, making him the first American citizen on the Central Intelligence Agency’s hit list.

Awlaki’s English-language online lectures and writings have turned up in more than a dozen terrorism investigations in the United States, Britain and Canada, counter-terrorism experts have said. (ANI)

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Suspicious over ‘terror links’ US to send more military personnel to Pak

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr.29 (ANI): The Obama Administration’s decision to send 50 more military personnel with four new F-16 combat jets to Pakistan has the latter worried, as it is apprehensive about the US’ plans.

The Pakistan government is worried that the arrival of US troops in the country would add to the already heightened anti-US sentiments prevailing in the country.

There are currently about 200 U.S. military involved in security assistance in Pakistan, including a Special Operations training and advisory contingent. The Central Investigation Agency (CIA) had also sent additional intelligence-gathering operatives and technicians in recent months.

“Certainly, this is a delicate area,” The Washington Post quoted a Pakistani military official, as saying.

Though Islamabad has been sharing intelligence inputs facilitating the CIA operated drone strikes in the ungoverned tribal regions along the Afghan border, a senior ISI official complained that the Obama Administration still remains suspicious of its links with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

During a recent briefing in Islamabad, a senior ISI official said the US believes that Pakistan is ‘incapable’ of safeguarding its nuclear arsenals from the threats posed by the extremist groups operating from the terror ‘hot beds’ situated in the tribal regions.

“The United States sees Pakistan as incapable of guaranteeing the security of its nuclear arsenal, irrationally obsessed with the threat from India and generally not serious about either democracy or fighting terrorists,” he said.

On the other hand, US officials believe that Islamabad is concerned over the US’ pull out from Afghanistan, as they fear that America’s withdrawal would give Afghan President Hamid Karzai a free hand to reconcile with the Taliban without even consulting Islamabad.

“They (Pakistan) don’t believe we don’t know what Karzai is doing.They”re afraid that we”re going to cut a peace deal without them. We”ve told them that as soon as we know, they”ll know,” the newspaper quoted a US State Department official, as saying.

Pakistan is of the view that it would need allies among the Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan to maintain its influence and protect its western border from India’s influence. (ANI)

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Pak to only get ‘unarmed shadow’ drones fleet by year-end: US official

March 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar.30 (ANI): Pakistan is likely to get a fleet of unmanned-surveillance aircrafts from the US by the year end, but the armed drones, for which it has been pestering Washington is still far from its reach, a top US military official has said.

It may be noted that US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, during his recent Pakistan visit, had offered the unarmed ‘shadow’ drones, but Islamabad is still to ascertain the viability of the surveillance drones.

“I would like to think that we would get them there within a year,” the US official said while talking to media persons on conditions of anonymity.

“We looked at Shadows. We looked at Scan Eagles and other tactical UAVs that are out and about and what we want to do is try to find out which model is best,” The Daily Times quoted the official, as saying.

Pakistan has been pressing the White House to provide it armed drones or the technology itself, so that it can carry out missile hits against extremist hideouts in the ungoverned tribal areas along the Afghanistan border, but the US so far, has turned down all such requests.

Although Pakistan publicly opposes the attacks, saying they violate its sovereignty and fuel anti-Americanism among the population, it is believed that it was sharing intelligence with the US about the insurgents and their hide-outs.

“The general US policy is not to export weaponised capabilities of any drone aircraft,” the official said. (ANI)

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Pak Army readying fresh ‘operational plans’ against Mehsud following rival’s assassination

June 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, June 25 (ANI): The Pakistan military is preparing new ‘operational plans’ against the Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

Sources privy to the military said that the plan against the Taliban chief had to be ‘readjusted’ after the death of Mehsud’s rival commander Qari Zainuddin.

Military officials rejected the notion that Zainuddin’s death, just before an all out operation against the Taliban warlord, had given a ‘setback’ to the government’s aim, and said such actions are not planned ‘around single individuals’.

“The killing of the anti-Mehsud commander had ‘come at the wrong time’ but was not a major cause of concern,” The Daily Times quoted a military official, who refused to be identified, as saying.

However, experts believe that by failing to protect Zainuddin’s life, the state stood humiliated.

“The government delayed the investment in Zainuddin and the result is that today the state stands humiliated as it could not protect its man against likely threats from Mehsud,” they opined. (ANI)

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Next 12 to 18 months crucial for US’ AFPAK policy: US

May 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 24 (ANI): The United States considers the next 12 to 18 months as critical to the success of its revamped AFPAK policy.

Addressing an off the record briefing, in which the briefer is not identified, a top US military official said the next year and half would crucial for the US led ‘war on terror’ against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He also made it clear that the Obama administration would continue targeting militant hideouts in Pakistan and Afghanistan, using the Predator drone aircrafts.

“The US military liked drones because they are effective, relatively cheap and keep pilots out of danger,” the official said.

He also informed that Washington is mulling over a new ‘rotational approach,’ in Afghanistan which would create a cadre of experts in Afghanistan by rotating the troops in and out of the region.

Meanwhile, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, warned that President Obama’s decision to send in about 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan may bring new militants to Pakistan from the neighbouring country.

Admiral Mullen said the United States had no option other than to push back the Taliban harder in Afghanistan despite the possible negative impact of such a drive on Pakistan.

“They want Afghanistan back. We can’t let them or their Al-Qaeda cohorts have it,” The Dawn quoted Admiral Mullen, as saying.

He said the Taliban’s aim was to govern the region.

“It’s not just about instilling fear or spreading violence. They want Afghanistan back,” Admiral Mullen added. (ANI)

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US denies carrying out joint drone operations in Pakistan

May 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, May 14 (ANI): A day after media reports claimed Pakistan has allowed US drones to fly inside its geographical territory to carry out strikes against the Taliban and other extremist groups, US defence officials have refuted the accounts.

Terming the Los Angeles Times report as ‘grossly inaccurate’, a senior defense official at Central Command said the idea of the U.S. Military openly operating in that area would be a drastic change in policy, Fox News reports.

Pakistan military officials are working with their American counterparts at a command center in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, the paper reported

“This is about building trust. This is about giving them capabilities they do not currently have to help them defeat this radical extreme element that is in their country,” the newspaper had quoted a senior U.S. military official, as saying.

“The program marks a significant departure from how the war against Taliban insurgents has been fought for most of the last seven years,” it added.

The report had also quoted some US officials describing the new joint operation as an ‘effective compromise.’

Pakistan, which has been denying reports about Islamabad allowing the drones to fly from air-base within the country to carry out attacks in the lawless tribal region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, also did not deny that the joint program is now in place. (ANI)

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US-Pak jointly carrying out drone strikes against Taliban now

May 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 13 (ANI): In a significant move, Pakistan for the first time ‘officially’ has allowed US Predator drone aircrafts to fly inside its geographical territory to carry out missile strikes against the Taliban and other extremist groups.

Under the new partnership, U.S. drones will be allowed for the first time to venture beyond the borders of Afghanistan into Pakistan’s territory under the direction of Pakistani military officials.

Pakistan military officials are working with American counterparts at a command center in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, The Los Angeles Times reports.

The United States said that it has initiated the program to help Pakistan enhance their capabilities to counter the threat from the Taliban, which is threatening the country’s existence.

“This is about building trust. This is about giving them capabilities they do not currently have to help them defeat this radical extreme element that is in their country,” a senior U.S. military official said.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, recently, reiterated demands for own fleet of Predators, but U.S. officials had ruled out the possibility providing drones to Islamabad.

However, US officials are now describing the new joint operation as an ‘effective compromise.’

Islamabad, which has been denying reports about Pakistan allowing the drones to fly from air-base within the country to carry out attacks in the lawless tribal region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, has now also admitted that such a bilateral program in is place.

Pakistan officials admitted that they were working with U.S. officials to better utilize the American technology. (ANI)

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Pakistani leadership unable to confront extremist threat: US

May 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 28 (ANI): US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen is frustrated particularly by the Pakistani political leadership’s inability to confront the extremist threat and remains “very alarmed by the growing Taliban threat in the country,” his spokesman has said.

Admiral Mullen has made two visits to Pakistan in less than three weeks and is “deeply alarmed by what he has found,” his spokesman, Captain John Kirby told CNN.

“It is a very precarious security situation.” Admiral Mullen is particularly “alarmed by what is going on in the Swat Valley,” Captain Kirby said.

“Instead of laying down their arms under the terms of a peace deal, the Taliban picked them up,” The Nation quoted Captain Kirby, as saying.

Admiral Mullen is making his views known after returning from his 11th visit to Islamabad over the weekend.

Captain Kirby said the chairman’s views about the deterioration in Pakistan have accelerated since he visited Islamabad in early April with special envoy Richard Holbrooke.

During the most recent visit Mullen “expressed those concerns,” and urged Pakistani military leaders to “be more aggressive in confronting” the Taliban, Captain Kirby said.

Admiral Mullen also reiterated the US offer of any military assistance that the Pakistanis find acceptable; although that does not include US ground troops.

A senior US military official said that there is growing worry there are parts of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province that appear to be under the Taliban control and that the Taliban strategy is to maintain governance in those areas.

The US military thinks Pakistan’s nuclear weapons remain in safe hands, Captain Kirby said. (ANI)

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US says Pak Taliban picked up arms after Swat peace deal

May 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 28 (ANI): US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen is frustrated particularly by the Pakistani political leadership’s inability to confront the extremist threat, and remains “very alarmed by the growing Taliban threat in the country,” his spokesman has said.

Mullen has made two visits to Pakistan in less than three weeks and is “deeply alarmed by what he has found,” his spokesman, Captain John Kirby told CNN.

“It is a very precarious security situation.” Mullen is particularly “alarmed by what is going on in the Swat Valley,” Kirby said.

“Instead of laying down their arms under the terms of a peace deal, the Taliban picked them up,” The Nation quoted Kirby, as saying.

Mullen is making his views known after returning from his 11th visit to Islamabad over the weekend.

Kirby said the chairman’s views about the deterioration in Pakistan have accelerated since he visited Islamabad in early April with special envoy Richard Holbrooke.

During the most recent visit Mullen “expressed those concerns,” and urged Pakistani military leaders to “be more aggressive in confronting” the Taliban, Kirby said.

Mullen also reiterated the US offer of any military assistance that the Pakistanis find acceptable; although that does not include US ground troops.

A senior US military official said that there is growing worry there are parts of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province that appear to be under the Taliban control and that the Taliban strategy is to maintain governance in those areas.

The US military thinks Pakistan’s nuclear weapons remain in safe hands, Kirby said. (ANI)

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PAF offensive kills 20 militants in FATA, claim officials

April 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Apr.20 (ANI): At least twenty militants were reportedly killed in an offensive launched by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in the Orakzai region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan military officials have claimed.

According to the Dawn, PAF jets and helicopter gunships launched an attack targeting a close aide of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud, who had claimed the responsibility for a suicide car-bomb attack on a security convoy in which 25 security personnel were killed near Kohat town of the agency.

“Our jets and helicopters attacked suspected hideouts of militants in the Ghiliju area and killed 20 militants,” a military official said.

Local residents said the fighter jets bombed a government school which was turned into a training camp by the Taliban.

However, officials were unable to give details about whether Hakimullah Mehsud had also been killed in the attack or not. (ANI)

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Pirates attack US-flagged ship, fail to board

April 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

(Adds U.S. military official)

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) – Pirates attacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia with rockets and automatic weapons on Tuesday but failed to board the craft, the ship’s owner and the U.S. military said.

The crew of the Liberty Sun was unharmed, but the vessel suffered damage, according to a statement from Liberty Maritime Corp of Lake Success, New York.

The ship immediately requested help from the U.S. Navy, which sent forces, the statement said.

“We are grateful and pleased that no one was injured and the crew and the ship are safe,” it said.

It was the second attack in a week on a U.S.-flagged ship in the region. On Sunday, U.S. snipers killed three Somali pirates and freed the American ship captain they had been holding hostage for five days.

Liberty Maritime said the pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the vessel, which was carrying U.S. food aid for African nations to Mombasa, Kenya, from Houston, it said.

A U.S. military official said the Liberty Sun was attacked at about 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT) on Tuesday. “The USS Bainbridge was directed to turn around and assist and went to help,” the official said.

The pirates had already gone when the vessel arrived three hours later, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The Bainbridge was the same ship that helped rescue cargo ship captain Richard Phillips on Sunday.

Heavily armed pirates from lawless Somalia have been increasingly striking the busy Indian Ocean shipping lanes and strategic Gulf of Aden, capturing dozens of vessels, hundreds of hostages and making off with millions of dollars in ransoms.

Earlier on Tuesday, Somali pirates hijacked two more cargo vessels and opened fire on a third in attacks that were a clear sign pirate gangs have not been deterred by two raids in recent days in which U.S. and French special forces killed five pirates. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Joanne Allen; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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Emergency imposed in Bangkok, PM’s convoy attacked

April 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Jaishree Balasubramanian Bangkok, Apr 12 (PTI) Thailand’s embattled Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva today escaped an attack by anti- government protesters who defied restrictions and attacked his convoy, hours after he declared a state of emergency in Bangkok and deployed tanks and armoured vehicles on streets. Armoured vehicles were seen moving in the streets of Bangkok, but a military official said that this was not a sign of imminent coup but a measure to build up security.

The government declared a state of emergency in the capital and six neighbouring provinces after thousands of red- shirted protesters demanding the Premier’s resignation yesterday surrounded an ASEAN summit venue leading to its cancellation. India’s Kamal Nath and several other leaders had to be lifted out of the venue to safety with the help of helicopters.

“The government has tried all along to avoid violence but the protest has developed and they have used actions incompatible with the constitution,” Abhisit said in a televised speech today. “Now the government is unable to avoid this state of emergency,” he said as the government deployed tanks and armoured military vehicles at 50 key locations in the capital.

Reports say pitched street battle took place between protesters loyal to ex-Premier Thaksin Shinawatra who are demanding the resignation of Abhisit and security forces. PTI.

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Q+A: How the U.S. Navy ended Somali pirate drama

April 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – U.S. Navy special forces shot dead three Somali pirates on a lifeboat off Somalia and freed American cargo ship captain Richard Phillips on Sunday in a dramatic end to a five-day standoff, officials said.

Here are answers to some key questions about the incident, mainly from information provided to reporters by Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, head of the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet.

HOW DID THE NAVY END THE STANDOFF?

Navy SEALs, elite special operations troops, on the USS Bainbridge shot dead the pirates in the lifeboat after the Bainbridge’s captain determined that Phillips’ life was in imminent danger because a pirate pointed an AK-47 rifle at him.

Navy sailors then sailed to the lifeboat in a small inflatable craft and rescued Phillips, who was tied up inside the 18-foot-long lifeboat. He was later transferred to the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship.

A U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said special operations forces had tried to approach the lifeboat earlier in the standoff, but the pirates had fired at them.

A fourth pirate who surrendered before the end of the standoff was aboard the Bainbridge when Phillips was freed.

The pirate had sought medical treatment for a stab wound to the hand, inflicted by a member of the Maersk Alabama’s crew when the gang tried to hijack the ship, the official said.

The pirate was being transferred to the Boxer.

HOW WERE SEA CONDITIONS AT THE TIME?

Conditions were deteriorating and the USS Bainbridge was towing the lifeboat in search of calmer waters at the time of the incident. The lifeboat was about 80 to 100 feet away from the Bainbridge when the Navy SEALs opened fire on the pirates.

The lifeboat was about 20 miles off the coast of Somalia when the standoff ended. U.S. military officials were determined to prevent the lifeboat from reaching the Somali shore.

WHAT IS PHILLIPS’ CONDITION?

Phillips is in good health, Gortney said. The former hostage declined an offer of food after his rescue and has called home. President Barack Obama also called the Boxer to speak to him.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE FOURTH PIRATE?

The Navy says it is working with the U.S. Department of Justice to determine how to hold the pirate accountable for his crimes. He could be prosecuted in the United States or in Kenya, Gortney said.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE INCIDENT?

U.S. officials insist they did not want the stand-off to end violently. Somali pirates have generally not harmed their hostages and officials fear they could now act more violently.

“This could escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it,” Gortney told reporters at the Pentagon on a conference call from his headquarters in Bahrain.

(Reporting by Andrew Gray, Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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U.S. navy stalks Somali pirates in hostage standoff

April 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somali elders sought to mediate on Saturday between the U.S. navy and pirates holding an American hostage in a high-seas standoff that presents President Barack Obama with a nasty new dilemma.

Four pirates adrift in a lifeboat far out in the Indian Ocean with Richard Phillips, the 53-year-old American captain of a cargo ship they tried to seize on Wednesday, have demanded $2 million for his release and a guarantee of their own safety.

He is one of about 260 hostages now being held by the swelling numbers of pirates from lawless Somalia who prey on the busy sea lanes of the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

With three U.S. warships in the area, Somali elders and relatives of the pirates holding the Vermont father-of-two plan a mediation mission in the hope of avoiding bloodshed, said a regional organization that monitors piracy.

“They are just looking to arrange safe passage for the pirates, no ransom,” said group coordinator Andrew Mwangura.

Pirates seized another vessel on Saturday, a U.S.-owned, Italian-flagged tugboat with 10 Italians and six others on board, NATO alliance officials on a warship in the region said.

Earlier, attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the cabin of the commanding officer of another ship in the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen. They also fired bullets.

The grenade did not explode and the ship’s crew managed to repel the attackers with water hoses, the NATO officials said.

On Friday French special forces stormed a yacht held by pirates elsewhere in the lawless stretch of the Indian Ocean in an assault that killed one hostage, but freed four.

Two of the pirates were killed and three captured.

WARSHIPS CLOSE IN

A U.S. military official said the destroyer Bainbridge was near the lifeboat and had been joined by the Boxer, the flagship of a U.S.-led multinational counterpiracy task force which has a crew of about 1,000 and dozens of attack planes and helicopters.

The guided U.S. missile frigate Halyburton was also nearby.

At one point, Phillips tried to escape by jumping overboard but was “didn’t get very far,” a U.S. official said.

The Bainbridge launched monitoring drones and kept radio contact with the pirates.

“What continues to be our number one priority is the safe and healthy return of the captain,” said a Pentagon spokesman.

The gang holding Phillips remained defiant. “We will defend ourselves if attacked,” one told Reuters by satellite phone.

Pirates on a 20,000-tonne German container vessel with 24 hostages gave up an attempt to use the ship as a “shield” to protect the lifeboat holding Phillips.

“We have come back to Haradheere coast. We could not locate the lifeboat,” one pirate on the German ship the Hansa Stavanger, who identified himself as Suleiman, told Reuters.

Relatives said Phillips had volunteered to get in the lifeboat with the pirates in exchange for the safety of his crew, who regained control of the 17,000-tonne, Danish-owned Maersk Alabama, on Wednesday.

The ship was due to dock in Kenya’s Mombasa port on Saturday with its cargo of food relief.

Filipinos make up the largest contingent of all the hostages. Pirates are keeping about 17 captured vessels around lairs like Eyl, Hobyo and Haradheere on Somalia’s eastern coast — six taken in the last week alone.

“Once again, it has taken American involvement to get world powers really interested,” said a diplomat who tracks Somalia from Nairobi. “I hope they don’t forget the Filipinos and all the others once this guy is released.”

The standoff has forced Obama to focus on a place most Americans would rather forget. Perched on the Horn of Africa, Somalia has suffered 18 years of conflict since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Americans remember with a shudder the disastrous U.S.-U.N. intervention there soon after, including the infamous “Black Hawk Down” battle in 1993 when 18 U.S. troops were killed.

FRANCE DEFENDS RAID

In Somalia’s semi-autonomous northern Puntland region, which prides itself on its relative stability, a court sentenced 10 pirates to 20 years in prison on Saturday for attacking a Syrian-registered ship in October 2008.

But piracy seems sure to go on while Somalia stays in chaos.

Insurance premiums have risen and some shippers just avoid the area, sending cargoes round South Africa to Europe instead of through the Gulf of Aden into the Suez Canal.

Somalia’s Islamist insurgent movement al Shabaab, on Washington’s list of terrorist organizations, lambasted the international naval patrols aimed at keeping ships safe.

“You are the ones who are the pirates. Leave our waters. You will be defeated,” said a spokesman. The group denies it has links with the pirates, most of whom used to be poor fishermen.

The French government stood by its raid to free the yacht hijacked en route to Zanzibar last weekend with two couples and a 3-year-old child aboard.

“During the operation, a hostage sadly died,” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office. But it said the president “confirms France’s determination not to give in to blackmail and to defeat the pirates.”

Piracy has been growing for years but hit headlines in 2008 with the world’s largest sea hijack of a Saudi tanker carrying $100 million of oil — and for taking a Ukrainian ship with a huge military cargo including 33 tanks.

(Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Mohamed Ahmed in Mogadishu, Abdiqani Hassan in Bosasso, Abdiaziz Hassan in Nairobi, Daniel Wallis in Mombasa, Alison Bevege on board the NRB Corte-Real, Andrew Gray and Anthony Boadle in Washington, William Maclean in London and Andrew Cawthorne in Nairobi; writing by Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Richard Meares)

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Ship reaches Kenya; pirate lifeboat drifts toward land

April 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) – A U.S.-flagged ship that was seized by Somali pirates arrived safely in the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Saturday, as a Somali mediator headed to sea to try to secure the release of the ship’s American captain.

“The captain is a hero,” one crew member shouted from the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama container ship as it docked. “He saved our lives by giving himself up.

The ship, under the command of Richard Phillips, was attacked by gunmen far out in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday but its 20 American crew apparently fought off the hijackers and regained control of the freighter.

Phillips was taken hostage and is being held captive on a drifting lifeboat by the gang of four pirates who want $2 million ransom for him, as well as safe passage.

Relatives said Phillips had volunteered to join the pirates in their lifeboat in exchange for the safety of his crew. At one point, he tried to escape by jumping overboard but “didn’t get very far,” a U.S. official said.

Three U.S. warships were in the area around the lifeboat. A U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity said crew members on the destroyer USS Bainbridge saw Phillips on Friday from a distance of several hundred yards (meters), moving and talking aboard the boat after his failed escape.

CNN said on Saturday the Bainbridge sent a small boat to approach the lifeboat to open communication, but the pirates responded with gunfire. The Navy personnel then retreated.

NBC television and CBS radio said the lifeboat had drifted to within 20 miles of the Somali coast, and that U.S. military officials feared that if the craft reached the shore, the pirates might escape with their hostage on land.

Somalia has suffered 18 years of civil war and the international waters off the Horn of Africa have become some of the most dangerous in the world.

Phillips is just one of about 270 hostages from a variety of countries being held by Somali pirates preying on the busy sea-lanes of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Yet the Maersk Alabama has captured world attention because Phillips is the first U.S. citizen seized and his crew was able to regain control of the ship.

“Once again, it has taken American involvement to get world powers really interested,” said a diplomat who tracks Somalia from Nairobi.

The standoff has forced U.S. President Barack Obama to focus on a place most Americans would rather forget. A U.S. intervention in Somalia in the early 1990s was a disaster, including the “Black Hawk Down” battle in 1993 that killed 18 U.S. troops and inspired a book and a movie.

A White House spokesman said Obama received multiple updates on the piracy situation on Saturday.

CRIME SCENE

John Reinhart, president and chief executive of Maersk Line Ltd, said the FBI was investigating the hijacking in Kenya.

“Because of the pirate attack, the FBI has informed us that this ship is a crime scene,” he told reporters, adding that the crew will have to stay on board the vessel.

As it docked, a U.S. crewman shouted to reporters a message that he wanted relayed to his family — “I’m happy, I’m safe.”

It was still not clear how the crew retook control of their vessel, which was carrying thousands of tons of food aid for Somalia, Uganda and Kenya.

Somali elders sent a mediator on Saturday in hopes of resolving a standoff between the U.S. Navy and the four pirates holding Phillips, a 53-year-old Vermont father of two.

“They are just looking to arrange safe passage for the pirates, no ransom,” said Andrew Mwangura, the coordinator of a regional group that monitors piracy.

The mediator took to sea in a boat but it was unclear how he would reach the pirates. He speaks English and aimed to bridge the language gap between the pirates and the U.S. side.

“The man took a boat but how he will spot the lifeboat is the question,” said Aweys Ali Said, head of the local Galkayo region’s local authority. “The elders want the captain to be released and the pirates to come home safely. But I understand, the pirates need a ransom, come what may.

The gang holding Phillips remained defiant. “We will defend ourselves if attacked,” one told Reuters by satellite phone.

Another band of pirates seized an Italian-flagged tugboat with 10 Italians and six others aboard on Saturday, NATO officials on a warship in the region said.

Earlier, attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade and guns at another ship in the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen. The grenade did not explode and the ship’s crew managed to repel the attackers with water hoses, the officials said.

French special forces on Friday stormed a yacht held by pirates elsewhere in the lawless stretch of the Indian Ocean in an assault that killed one hostage but freed four. Two of the pirates were killed and three captured.

Filipinos make up the largest contingent of hostages in the region. Pirates are keeping about 17 captured vessels on Somalia’s eastern coast — six taken in the last week alone.

In Somalia’s semi-autonomous northern Puntland region, which prides itself on its relative stability, a court sentenced 10 pirates to 20 years in prison on Saturday for attacking a Syrian-registered ship in October 2008. But piracy seems sure to go on while Somalia stays in chaos.

Insurance premiums have risen and some shippers just avoid the area, sending cargoes round South Africa to Europe instead of through the Gulf of Aden into the Suez Canal.

Piracy has been growing for years but hit headlines in 2008 when there were 42 hijackings including the world’s largest sea hijack of a Saudi tanker carrying $100 million of oil.

(Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Mohamed Ahmed in Mogadishu, Abdiqani Hassan in Bosasso, Abdiaziz Hassan in Nairobi, Daniel Wallis and Celestine Achieng in Mombasa, Alison Bevege on board the NRB Corte-Real, Todd Eastham, Andrew Gray, Anthony Boadle, David Morgan and Bill Trott in Washington, William Maclean in London and Andrew Cawthorne in Nairobi; writing by Andrew Cawthorne and Bill Trott; editing by Kieran Murray and Philip Barbara)

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