Three children among seven killed in Pakistan

Islamabad, May 13 (DPA) Three boys died and two people were injured Wednesday when a bomb exploded in a camp of Afghan refugees in northwestern Pakistan, police said.

Separately, Taliban militants killed two men in the same region, accusing them for spying for the United States, while a blast ripped through an oil tanker carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan, killing two people in Pakistan’s southwestern province.

Local police officer Mohammad Aslam said that an explosion took place in the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Paktunkhwa province, formerly known as North West Frontier Province.

‘Three children aged between 10 and 13 died in the blast while one child and a man were injured,’ said Aslam. ‘The nature of the blast is not known yet. Our bomb disposal squad is on the spot and they are collecting evidence to determine what sort of bomb that was’.

Peshawar has seen dozens of bombings carried out by Taliban militants who have intensified attacks to avenge Pakistan’s ongoing assaults in their strongholds in lawless tribal region along Afghan border.

The US has encouraged Islamabad to target Taliban and Al Qaeda militants who launch regular cross-border raids from their hideouts in rouged tribal region on international forces into Afghanistan.

In addition to the efforts by around 150,000 Pakistani troops against Islamist insurgency, the American CIA has also launched a covet war in Pakistan’s tribal region with unmanned drone aircrafts.

More than 900 people, most of them Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, have been killed in the missiles attacks carried out by the drones since August 2008.

Following almost every drone strike Taliban respond with killing alleged US spies who they believe guide the drones by planting electronic devices near possible targets.

Wednesday, residents found the bodies of two people dumped in Miranshah, the main town in tribal district of North Waziristan that is a major bastion of militants.

An intelligence official said that a note attached with the bodies comprised a promise from Taliban for the same fate for all those who ‘intended to spy for the Americans’.

North Waziristan has been severely hit by drone attacks in recent months. Twenty-four people died in two US aerial attacks in the district Tuesday.

Also Wednesday, a blast destroyed a tanker carrying fuel supplies for the NATO troops in the landlocked Afghanistan, killing two by-passers and injuring two more.

The attack took place in Chaman, the main border town in south-western Baluchistan province that adjoins Afghan province of Kandahar.

‘One child and a man died in the attack, while two more were wounded,’ said Ata Mohammad of the border security police. ‘Several shops near the bombing place also caught fire’. Mohammad suspected that Taliban could be behind the bombing.

Chinese woman boiled man’s head in soup to treat daugther’s psychiatric problems

London, June 24 (ANI): In the hope of finding a cure for daughter’s psychiatric problems, a woman in China boiled a man’s head in a soup, local newspaper reported.

Back in 2008, Lin Zongxiu, from the southwestern province of Sichuan had heard that soup made with a man’s head could help cure her daughter who had suffered from psychiatric problems for years, the Chengdu Commercial newspaper reported.

After learning the information, Lin and her husband decided to enlist the help of a man in December who knocked unconscious a drunk 76-year-old passer-by before beheading him, the paper claimed.

The couple then gave their 25-year-old daughter soup made from the man’s head, and duck, reports The Telegraph.

On Monday a local court sentenced the murderer to death with a two-year reprieve, and Lin was convicted of helping to destroy evidence that included the culprit’s bloody clothes and shoes, the paper said. (ANI)

Taliban publicly executes eloping young couple in Afghanistan’ Nimroz province

Kabul, Apr.14 (ANI): The Taliban has publicly executed a young unmarried couple in the southwestern province of Nimroz.

Confirming the incident, provincial governor Ghulam Dastageer Azad said couple was shot dead by extremists in front of a mosque after they were caught eloping.

“An unmarried young boy and an unmarried girl who loved each other and wanted to get married eloped because their families would not approve the marriage,” The News quoted Azad, as saying.

Terming the brutal incident an ‘insult to Islam’ he said local religious leaders had ordered a death sentence for the couple.

The incident once again brings to light the brutalities Afghan women are being subjected to in the country.

It is not only the extremists who treat women in the country as mere objects, but the government too seems to be backing the notion, as was evident from President Hamid Karzai’s controversial ‘rape law’.

The law, brought by President Karzai allowed Shiite men to demand sex from their wives every four days and keep them indoors indefinitely.

The law, which was leaked by an UN agency, stated that a Shiite woman must seek her husband’s permission to go outside which clearly subjugates the rights of women.

Facing severe international criticism over the issue, Karzai later ordered a review of the law saying he would send the bill back to parliament if it was found that women rights were being violated. (ANI)

Murdered Pakistani helped U.N. official’s release

ISLAMABAD, April 10 (Reuters) – The United States has condemned the killing in Pakistan of three political leaders from a southwestern province, saying one of them had helped in the release of a kidnapped American U.N. official.

The United Nations expressed serious concern over the killing of the three men, the discovery of whose bodies in Baluchistan province on Thursday sparked violent protests. It called for an immediate investigation.

“We condemn the recent killings of three Baluch leaders,” the U.S. embassy in Islamabad said in a statement.

“One of the individuals played an active role in efforts towards the release of an American citizen and UNHCR official John Solecki.”

Solecki, 49, head of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Baluchistan, was kidnapped in the provincial capital, Quetta, on Feb. 2 when gunmen ambushed his car and shot dead his driver.

A previously unknown separatist group, the Baluchistan Liberation United Front, said it had kidnapped him and had demanded the release of prisoners it said were being held by the government.

Baluch nationalists have for decades campaigned for greater autonomy and control of the province’s gas resources. Baluch separatist militants have also waged a low-level insurgency.

Solecki was released last Saturday, shortly after the three Baluch leaders were taken away by unidentified men. Their supporters say they were taken away by security men.

The U.S. embassy said the role by one of the three leaders killed, Ghulam Mohammed Baloch, in efforts to secure Solecki’s released had been greatly appreciated.

“We call on Pakistani authorities to thoroughly investigate these three deaths and to bring those responsible to justice,” the embassy said.

“DISAPPEARANCES”

The provincial government said the killing of the three was an act of terrorism and ordered an inquiry. The military blamed an “anti-state element” bent on undermining reconciliation.

The three men were members of a committee recently set up by the government to investigate cases of disappearances, the United Nations said.

The human rights group Amnesty International said the government had failed to investigate an estimated 800 forced disappearances in Baluchistan over the past two years. It also urged authorities to investigate the killing of the three men.

A policeman was killed in rioting on Thursday when protesters set ablaze a bank and torched vehicles in Quetta and other towns.

There were no reports of disruptions at gas fields.

On Friday, a bomb planted on a motorcycle wounded four people while suspected separatists attacked a paramilitary vehicle with a grenade, wounding five soldiers, police said.

Baluchistan is Pakistan’s biggest province in terms of area but has the smallest and poorest population.

Taliban Islamist militants fighting in Afghanistan also operate out of Baluchistan but they have no links with the nationalists demanding autonomy or independence.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

UN expresses concern over abducted Solecki’s health

Islamabad, Mar 19 (ANI): The United Nations has expressed its concerns about the well being of its abducted official John Solecki, and is trying hard for his release at the earliest, an official of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said.

Solecki, a UN refugee agency (UNHCR) official in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, was kidnapped at gunpoint in Quetta on February 2.

The Baluchistan Liberation United Front (BLUF), claiming to hold Solecki had warned to kill him within 48 hours on Monday if the government does not free more than 1,100 prisoners.

The Dawn quoted the UNHCR official as saying, “‘We are very concerned about the apparent deterioration of John’s health, reported by the group holding him…the world body was still willing to speak directly to those who have John, in the spirit of being ready to listen and to find a safe way to secure his release.”

‘The UNHCR is also in contact with the federal and provincial government of Baluchistan. The list of demands provided by the abductors has been presented to both the governments, which are working on it,’ he said.

He further appreciated the cooperation of the Baluch tribal leaders to remain in active communication and contact with the UN to support the release of Solecki. (ANI)