[Bahbah]

We woke up with a loud and big bang and when we came out we found our neighbor’s house completely obliterated as if no house existed here

You just have to admire the quality of the work.

[Bahbah]

This is from yesterday but I don’t think it was posted here.

“Major offensive against militants ‘planned’

By Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON, March 2: Pakistan is planning a major military offensive against suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda bases in the tribal areas, diplomatic sources in Washington told Dawn.

The sources said that the decision to go after the militants followed a recent increase in terrorist attacks in the country. The terrorists were unusually silent during and immediately after the national elections but have carried out several major attacks recently, killing more than 100 people in three days.

The sources said that while the United States will provide technical support for this offensive, there will be no direct US participation.

Reports in the US media on Sunday said that Washington is sending 100 military trainers to Pakistan who may also participate in operations against the militants.

Pakistan will also continue its efforts to negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict with tribal supporters of the Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents, the sources said, adding that the military offensive will not terminate the peace talks.

The sources claimed that US intelligence experts also have confirmed Pakistan’s assessment that Baitullah Mehsud and his group are responsible for most of the attacks inside Pakistan. They said that since December, when Mehsud assumed command of a militant umbrella group called Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, he has become active on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border.

In an unusual interview to Washington Post last month, CIA chief Michael Hayden blamed Mehsud for assassinating former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and warned that a new “nexus between Al Qaeda and various extremist and separatist groups” is seeking to destabilise Pakistan.

“It is clear that their intention is to continue to try to do harm to the Pakistani state as it currently exists,” he added.

US officials in Washington say that the United States is helping Pakistan deal with this threat and recently sent a four-member intelligence team to the country to help enhance their intelligence gathering capabilities.

The proposed military offensive, according to diplomatic and US sources, aims at curbing Mehsud’s growing influence in the tribal zone, particular in Waziristan.

Pentagon officials, while talking to various US media outlets, said that US intelligence experts are helping Pakistan locate Mehsud who, they said, needs to be “hammered down.”

Diplomatic sources said that since Mehsud and his militants hide among local tribes, it has been difficult to pinpoint him. The fear of collateral damage -— civilian casualties -– also prevents US and Pakistani troops from targeting Mehsud.

The Pakistan Army last conducted an operation against Mehsud in early January. But the action ended after a few days amid talk of an unofficial truce.”

Link: http://www.dawn.com/2008/03/03/top10.htm

From the article: Washington is sending 100 military trainers to Pakistan who may also participate in operations against the militants.

100 trainers, eh!

[Uncle Ike]

Getting closer to the flare-up....

Serbia ‘retakes’ Kosovo rail line
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7274826.stm ^

Posted on 03/03/2008 7:48:51 AM CST by jhpigott

Serbia has retaken control of a stretch of railway line in northern Kosovo, a senior Serb official has said. Branislav Ristivojevic, who heads Serbia’s state-run railway company, said Belgrade had restored control over the 50km (30-mile) Lesak-Zvecan line.

Earlier, Serb rail workers stopped a train on the line, saying they would not work for Kosovo’s rail firms.

Belgrade and Kosovo Serbs refuse to recognise Kosovo’s declaration of independence last month.

Last week, some 150 Kosovo Serb police officers were suspended for refusing to take orders from the ethnic Albanian authorities in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina.

Serb police officers protested in the Gracanica enclave

All are based in the same area of the south-east and they are asking to be put under the direct command of the local United Nations mission (Unmik).

The Kosovo Police Service (KPS) said talks were under way with Serb officers working in other parts of the south.

Serb KPS officers in the northern Serb stronghold around Mitrovica already only take orders from Unmik.

Some 700 ethnic Serbs serve in the 7,000-strong KPS, created by Unmik after it took control of Kosovo at the end of the 1998-99 war.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1979535/posts