DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Pakistani Taliban Say They Will Not Attack Pak Army

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Pakistani Taliban Say They Will Not Attack Pak Army

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 13, 2013: The Pakistani Taliban said on Saturday they would cease their occasional attacks on the Pakistani army in the Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan and concentrate attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan instead – an announcement possibly designed to head off divisions in the insurgency.

The ceasefire does not apply to the rest of the country, where there are often fierce clashes between the Taliban and security services.

Thousands of Pakistani soldiers are stationed in North Waziristan, a tribal region along the Afghan border.

There have been occasional clashes there between the soldiers and Taliban, but a leaflet issued by Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud ordered those to stop. A senior commander confirmed the pamphlet’s veracity.

“O Mujahideen brothers! As you know, the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban under the leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid are engaged in jihad against the crusaders and infidels, and are supporters of each others in the ongoing holy war,” the pamphlet said.

“The enemy does not want to see us united and disciplined against them and are trying to divide us,” it continued.

The Taliban have formed alliances with a number of other militant groups in North Waziristan who are violently opposed to the Pakistani state.

(Read complete story on Defense-Technology News - Click on link undermentioned) 

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2013/01/dtn-news-pakistan-news-pakistani.html

DTN News - RUSSIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russia's Defense Ministry Wants Strike Drone

DTN News - RUSSIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russia's Defense Ministry Wants Strike Drone

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 2, 2012: Russia’s Defense Ministry has issued a technical specification for development of a strike unmanned air vehicle (UAV), Izvestia daily said on Monday quoting a high-level source.

Tranzas company will build the UAV's on-board electronics as well as its navigation and control systems. The airframe, which will weigh about five tons, will be produced by the Kazan-based Sokol design bureau.

The new aircraft will have a modular structure, the source said, and will be able to carry various types of equipment and armament.

Russia’s Defense Ministry sealed contracts worth an estimated 3 billion rubles ($101.9 million) with Tranzas and Sokol in October 2011 for research work into creation of strike and reconnaissance UAVs.

In late March, Russian Air Force commander-in-chief Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, told Moscovsky Komsomolets tabloid that strike drones will enter service before 2020. He did not specify how many drones will be acquired.

The United States has relied heavily on UAVs including the Predator system to carry out missile attacks on insurgents in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-russia-defense-news-russias.html

DTN News - NATO ATTACK ON PAKISTAN: Pakistan Boycotts Key Afghan Summit Over NATO Attack

DTN News - NATO ATTACK ON PAKISTAN: Pakistan Boycotts Key Afghan Summit Over NATO Attack

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada / ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - November 29, 2011: Pakistan decided Tuesday to boycott a key international conference on Afghanistan next month, ramping up its protest over lethal cross-border NATO air strikes that have plunged US ties into deep crisis.

The decision was taken at a Pakistani cabinet meeting in the eastern city of Lahore, just days after Islamabad confirmed it was mulling its attendance in the German city of Bonn, where Pakistan's participation was considered vital.

"The cabinet has decided not to attend the Bonn meeting," a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The prime minister's office said the cabinet agreed that "unilateral action" such as Saturday's strike in the tribal district of Mohmand and the May 2 US killing of Osama bin Laden near the capital was "unacceptable".

US-led investigators have been given until December 23 to probe the attacks, threatening to prolong significantly Pakistan's blockade on NATO supplies into Afghanistan implemented in retaliation for the killings.

The US military appointed Brigadier General Stephen Clark, a one-star air force general based in Florida, to lead the investigation into the attack.

The team, set to include a NATO representative, is yet to arrive in Afghanistan but an initial military assessment team went to the border at the weekend after Saturday's catastrophic strike killing 24 Pakistani troops.

The Afghan and Pakistani governments are also being invited to take part. There was no immediate reaction from Islamabad or Kabul, although some analysts voiced surprise that it will take as long as nearly four weeks.

A Western military official in Kabul said the schedule for the findings being delivered was "way quicker" than initially expected.

US-Pakistani ties have been in free fall since a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis in January and Saturday's attack raises disturbing questions about the extent to which the two allies cooperate with each other.

Islamabad insists that the air strikes were unprovoked, but Afghan and Western officials have reportedly accused Pakistani forces of firing first.

"With the kind of technology available to the US and NATO, it was expected they would be able to do it (the investigation) much earlier, not more than two weeks," Pakistani defence analyst Talat Masood told AFP.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2011/11/dtn-news-nato-attack-on-pakistan.html

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Nato Helicopters 'Kill Pakistan Checkpoint Soldiers' - Pakistan Halts Supplies After Nato Kills 25 Troops

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Nato Helicopters 'Kill Pakistan Checkpoint Soldiers' - Pakistan Halts Supplies After Nato Kills 25 Troops

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - November 26, 2011: Pakistani officials have accused Nato helicopters of firing on a military checkpoint near Pakistan's Afghan border, killing 25 soldiers.

The "unprovoked and indiscriminate" attack took place in the Pakistani tribal region of Mohmand, the Pakistani military said in a statement.

In response, Pakistan has closed the border crossing for supplies bound for Nato forces in Afghanistan.

Nato said it was aware of "an incident" near the border and was investigating.

The alleged attack took place at the Salala checkpoint, about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from the Afghan border, Reuters reports, at around 02:00 local time (21:00 GMT).

If confirmed, the attack would further complicate US-Pakistan relations, already under strain following a unilateral US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in May.

Unnamed officials initially put the toll at up to eight, including an army major, but it has since risen.

At least seven soldiers were wounded.

The military gave no official toll, saying casualties were reported but details were awaited.

'Supplies halted'

Masood Kausar, governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, condemned the attack in a statement, reported AFP news agency.

"Such cross-border attacks are unacceptable and intolerable," he said, adding that the government would take up the matter at the highest level and launch a thorough investigation.

In apparent response to the attack, lorries and fuel tankers were being stopped at Jamrud town in the Khyber tribal region near the city of Peshawar, officials and local media said.

"We have halted the supplies and some 40 tankers and trucks have been returned from the check post in Jamrud," Mutahir Zeb, a senior government official, told Reuters news agency.

Pakistani troops are involved in fighting the Taliban in the crucial border region area. Hundreds of militants have been resisting attempts by the security forces to clear them from southern and south-eastern parts of the district.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2011/11/dtn-news-pakistan-news-nato-helicopters.html