Tag: Forces

MANAMA - Bahraini forces backed by helicopters launched a crackdown on protesters Wednesday, imposing a curfew and clearing hundreds from a camp that had become the symbol of an uprising by the Shia majority.
Hospital sources said three policemen and at least two protesters were killed in the assault that began a day after Bahrain declared martial law to quell sectarian unrest that has sucked in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbour Saudi Arabia. A defiant youth movement,

DIYARBAKIR - An Iranian airplane was forced to land at an airport in southeast Turkey late on Tuesday on suspicion that it may have been carrying arms to Syria, officials at Diyarbakir airport said. A Turkish foreign ministry official in Ankara confirmed that the plane had been asked to make a "technical landing", but declined to say why.
"The plane was coming from Iran and going to Syria. It was a cargo plane," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the

KARACHI
TARIQ HABIB
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan might not have heard of General Zia-ul-Haq, but drugs are being smuggled to them by tribes living along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Pakistan Today has learnt. ISAF troops, seemingly short on cash, are paying for these drugs by supplying weapons to those who provide them with heroin.
Heroin is being smuggled by transporters responsible for taking supplies to the ISAF

MINGAWARA - Four militants were killed during bloody encounter with security forces in the border area of Dir and Swat districts, official sources informed on Sunday.
The clash occurred when militants, who were entering from Dir district to Swat, refused to stop for search and started firing at security forces at the border area. As result of shootout, four militants were killed. The security forces claimed recovering automatic weapons and rounds from the possession of

PESHAWAR - Forces Saturday gunned down six militants and destroyed their two dens during a retaliatory action in Karanjoki area of Upper Orakzai Agency after an attack on a security check post here, officials said.

LONDON - British newspaper Telegraph has claimed that Iran is supporting Taliban to defeat NATO force in Afghanistan. According to the report, British Special Forces last month seized a large quantity of Iranian- Made rockets hidden in three trucks after a fierce fight with Taliban in the southern afghan province of Nimroz, bordering Iran. A spokesman for NATO forces in Afghanistan said that after tests, the weapon experts determined that these rockets had been made in an Iranian

KANDAHAR - A relative of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been killed by international forces, Karzai's brother and officials said on Thursday. The president's brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, told AFP that a relative, who he described as "our father's cousin," was shot dead near his home in the family's village in southern Kandahar province by the US-led NATO force overnight.
"It was a mistake," Ahmad Wali Karzai said. "The forces conducted an operation, he was at his home, he came

RAS JDIR - Troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi took the main square of Zawiyah on Wednesday, residents said, but rebels who pulled back under heavy assault vowed to counterattack. Al Jazeera satellite television said several members of Gaddafi's forces, including a general and a colonel, were killed in fighting that a local doctor said had claimed at least 40 lives and probably many more. Libyan state TV showed many dozens of what it said were loyalist demonstrators marching

MOGADISHU - Somalia's pro-government forces Tuesday closed in on bastions of the insurgent Shebab group, mounting their largest coordinated effort in years to wrest back the country from Al Qaeda-inspired rebels.
The offensive started last week with a major battle in Mogadishu that saw government troops reclaim large swathes of the capital, where the government had long been confined to a few blocks by the sea.
But government troops and their allies have in recent days

KARACHI - A large-scale naval exercise is being conducted in the Arabian Sea from March 8 (today) to March 12 under the arrangements of the Pakistan Navy. Naval ships from 11 countries - including USA, UK, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia - have arrived in Karachi to participate in the multinational naval exercise AMAN-11. Maritime air platforms from Japan, Australia and USA have also arrived. Major naval forces are assembling in Pakistani waters for international maritime

GENEVA - Heavily armed pro-regime forces are now manning the Libyan side of the border with Tunisia, and fewer than 2,000 people fled across on Thursday, the UN refugees agency said on Friday. "On previous days, between 10,000 and 15,000 fled every day into Tunisia. Yesterday less than 2,000 made it across the border," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "UNHCR is very concerned that the security situation in Libya may be preventing people

ASADABAD - Afghan President Hamid Karzai angrily criticised foreign forces Wednesday on civilian deaths, warning against daily killing after officials said nine children died in an air strike. Karzai told the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, which has 140,000 troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, that it could face "huge problems" if mistaken civilian deaths did not stop.
His statement came after an Afghan police chief said nine children died in an air

LONDON - Britain said on Tuesday it would axe around 11,000 armed forces jobs as part of defence cuts brought in to help reduce the country's record budget deficit. The announcement added detail to the broad figures outlined by finance minister George Osborne in last October's spending review. The size of Britain's armed forces will be reduced by 17,000 personnel by 2015 and will be partly achieved by slowing down recruitment.
"There will be scope for individuals to volunteer to

SOHAR - Omani forces in tanks dispersed on Tuesday protesters who were blocking the port in the Sohar industrial city and the coastal road to the capital Muscat, an AFP reporters said. The operation went peacefully and Omani forces drove away protesters who had been keeping vigil at the Earth Roundabout, a landmark intersection in Sohar where clashes erupted Sunday killing at least one protester.
It came a day after the United States urged Oman to show restraint and press ahead

WASHINGTON/GENEVA - The US military is moving naval and air forces into position around Libya, the Pentagon said on Monday, as Western countries weigh possible intervention against Moamer Gaddafi's regime. "We have planners working various contingency plans, and I think it's safe to say as part of that we're repositioning forces to provide for that flexibility once decisions are made," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan told reporters.
The redeployment of "naval and air

ATHENS - Greek police clashed with protesters on Wednesday as around 100,000 workers, pensioners and students marched to parliament in protest at austerity policies aimed at helping Greece cope with a huge debt crisis. Riot police fired scores of rounds of teargas and flash bombs at protesters hurling petrol bombs, choking the main Syndagma square with smoke and sending crowds of striking protesters running for cover.
Public and private sector employees' 24-hour strike grounded

TUNIS - Tunisian security forces fired in the air on Sunday in a vain attempt to disperse tens of thousands of demonstrators in the capital calling for a new interim government, a Reuters witness said. It was the second straight day of mass protests in the North African country's main city, in defiance of a government ban on rallies, after a lull following the popular uprising last month which overthrew President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
After weeks of relative calm, as many as