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Friday, August 6, 2010

Al-Qaeda suffered setbacks last year: US

The US government said Thursday that the Al-Qaeda network suffered "several significant setbacks" last year, while the number of Islamist militant attacks worldwide declined to just under 11,000. It said in an annual report that Al-Qaeda reeled under a Pakistani military onslaught, has lost many of its leaders, and has found it "tougher to raise money, train recruits and plan attacks" outside Pakistan and Afghanistan. "In addition to these operational setbacks, Al-Qaeda continued to fail in its efforts to carry out the attacks that would shake governments in the Muslim world," according to the State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism 2009. It also said Al-Qaeda has suffered from a Muslim public backlash as its militants and allies have staged indiscriminate attacks hitting Muslims in Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and elsewhere. "The number of conservative clerics and former militants speaking out against the organization increased," said the annual report which is required by the US Congress. "Yet despite these setbacks, the Al-Qaeda threat was more dispersed than in recent years, which partially offset the losses suffered by Al-Qaeda?s core," the report said. Its attempted Christmas Day bombing of a US airliner en route to Detroit showed "that at least one "Al-Qaeda affiliate has developed not just the desire but also the capability to launch a strike against the United States." That plot was determined to have been hatched in Yemen with the help of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a Yemeni affiliate. AQAP "has already shown itself to be a formidable threat to Yemen?s internal security, with attacks on the Yemeni security services, as well as a threat to Saudi Arabia," the report said. "Al-Qaeda's other most active affiliates were in Africa," it said. In the Sahel, in northwestern African countries like Mauritania, militants from Al-Qaeda the Islamic Maghreb abducted foreign nationals, sometimes with the help of area tribesmen and nomads. In Somalia, Al-Qaeda?s allies in the Shebab "controlled significant tracts of territory" while several leaders of the group "have publicly proclaimed loyalty" to Al-Qaeda. The State Department also expressed concern that Al-Qaeda and other Sunni militants have made converts of people in the United States. It recalled that five Americans from Virginia were arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of ties to militant groups, while Americans have joined the Shebab in Somalia. In a statistical annex to the report, the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) said 10,999 terrorist attacks occurred in 83 countries, resulting in 14,971 deaths. In the previous year, there were 11,727 attacks worldwide, with 15,727 attacks, according to the NCTC. "This marks the second consecutive year attacks and fatalities decreased," the State Department said, summing up the NCTC report. "The largest number of reported terrorist attacks in 2009 occurred in South Asia, which also had, for the second consecutive year, the greatest number of fatalities," it said in a statement. "Together, South Asia and the Near East were the locations for almost two-thirds of the 234 high-casualty attacks (those that killed 10 or more people) in 2009," it added.

Killings sparked by MP's murder add to environmental and economic woes


A third night of violence has rocked Pakistan's commercial capital, keeping some factories and markets closed, after a spate of killings triggered by the shooting of an MP. The death toll in Karachi climbed to 76 with 100 injured, city police chief Wasim Ahmed said yesterday. About 100 suspects had been arrested in the past three days, he said. ''The day was calm yesterday,'' said Seemi Jamali, who runs the emergency room at Jinnah Hospital. ''Later in the evening, we started receiving gunshot victims and dead bodies.'' The Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, was due to visit Karachi yesterday to reveal a strategy to restore calm, he told reporters in north-western Peshawar. The Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary force deployed across the city, are under orders to shoot suspects on sight, he said. ''There is evidence that those causing trouble in Karachi have links to the Taliban,'' Mr Malik said. Karachi is home to about 18 million people and serves as the Pakistan headquarters for companies such as Citigroup and Unilever. The shootings broke out after Raza Haider, an MP with the city's main party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was assassinated at a mosque on Monday. The Pakistan government is also grappling with widespread floods that have left more than 1500 dead and millions stranded. Floods are forecast to enter the southern province of Sindh during the next two days. Factories in Karachi, the provincial capital, lost 10billion rupees ($236 million) in three days because of the shutdown, said Abdul Majeed, the president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Workers were absent because public transport stayed off the roads, he said. Wholesale markets have lost 12 million rupees of business, said Anis Majeed, the president of the Karachi Wholesale Grocers Association. Supplies will take several days to be restored, he said. Pakistan was losing 5 billion rupees a day in tax revenue because of the floods and the violence in Karachi, the Business Recorder newspaper reported yesterday, citing an unidentified official. Political killings have escalated this year in Karachi, which is used as a refuge by militants fleeing army attacks on the Taliban in the north-west.

UK's Cameron, Zardari try to put relations back on track


Prime Minister David Cameron will pledge Britain's support for Pakistan during a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari, a spokesman said on Thursday, as the two countries try to repair a diplomatic row. Cameron invited Zardari, who is on a five-day visit to Britain, to dinner on Thursday at his Chequers official country residence -- the first foreign leader to be accorded the honor since Cameron took power in May, according to aides. Formal talks on Friday will focus on strengthening cooperation in countering terrorism, a spokesman for Cameron said. "It is an important opportunity to reinforce the strong links between the UK and Pakistan and continue to support stability, security, democracy and prosperity in Pakistan," the spokesman said. Cameron angered Pakistan when he said on a visit to India last week that Pakistan must not "look both ways" in its approach to Islamic militants. His remarks came days after U.S. military reports published on the WikiLeaks website detailed concerns Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency had aided Taliban militants fighting in Afghanistan. Pakistan's spy chief canceled a trip to Britain in protest at Cameron's remarks.