Free Republic

ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: Suicide bombers are not necessarily uneducated, poor and psychopaths but are as much economically well-off as their surrounding population. These views were expressed by a leading Australia-based Pakistani sociologist, Dr Riaz Hassan, who was delivering a lecture on suicide bombers here on Wednesday. .... Dr Hassan described some novel facts and figures he had gathered while conducting his ongoing research on suicide bombers. About 66 per cent of the Palestinian suicide bombers were high school or university graduates. .... To the surprise of many, Dr Hassan said, there had been a considerable decrease in the number of...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 12 — Several men believed to be American citizens have been taken into custody here during the past few weeks on suspicion of being linked to Al Qaeda, senior Pakistani officials said today. The Pakistani officials said most of the men had been picked up along with other suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban members in joint American-Pakistani raids in the country's remote tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan. They said they believe that the men form a disjointed network of disaffected Westerners who converted to Islam and have been drawn to militant causes, fighting alongside Al...