Source: reuters // Reuters
* At least 32 dead and 90 wounded, 21 seriously - hospital
* Bombing in market near newspaper offices, apartments
(Adds detail)
By Faris Ali
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 12 (Reuters) - At least 32 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing in a market in Pakistan's volatile northwestern city of Peshawar late on Saturday, a hospital official said.
"The death toll is now 32. Ninety people have been wounded and 21 of them are in serious condition," Jameel Shah, a spokesman for Lady Reading Hospital, the main government hospital in the city told Reuters.
The bombing took place near a building which houses several newspaper offices as well as apartments.
A small blast preceded a big one which senior police official Banaras Khan said police suspect was carried out by a suicide bomber.
"A huge fire broke out soon after the second blast. I myself saw five dead bodies on the spot soon after the blast," witness Syed Alam said.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack but Islamist militants have stepped up bomb and suicide attacks across U.S.-ally Pakistan since the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. SEALs in a secret raid last month. (Additional reporting by Kamran Haider; Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Louise Ireland) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/places/pakistan.
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Pakistan tells CIA chief it sticks to US troop cuts
12 Jun 2011 00:02
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Pakistan tells Panetta it sticks to U.S. troop reduction
* Ground intelligence critical to stabilising Afghanistan
* Ties strained after bin Laden death (Adds U.S. comments, bombing)
By Kamran Haider
ISLAMABAD, June 11 (Reuters) - Pakistan's army and intelligence chiefs told CIA Director Leon Panetta they were not willing to reverse a decision to cut the number of U.S. troops allowed in Pakistan, Pakistani military officials said on Saturday.
Panetta, nominated to take over as defence secretary next month, arrived in Pakistan on Friday on an unannounced visit, his first trip since a secret U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden and severely damaged ties between the allies.
Pakistan's army said on Thursday it had drastically cut down the number of U.S. troops allowed in the country and set clear limits on intelligence sharing with the United States.
"He (Panetta) expressed concerns over the reduction of trainers and operatives. We told him very clearly 'no boots on our soil is acceptable'," said a Pakistani military official.
Panetta held talks with army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, head of military intelligence.
U.S. officials have confirmed that Pakistan is severely cutting back the presence of American military personnel and intelligence agents but Washington still expects some to remain in the country.
A U.S. official described the talks as productive and said "at root, this isn't about numbers. It's about a commitment to thwart al-Qaeda and its militant allies.
"The United States is confident that the Pakistanis understand the stakes involved, particularly when their own people are suffering from all-too-frequent terrorist attacks," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
At least 34 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing in the Pakistani city of Peshawar late on Saturday, the latest attack since bin Laden's killing last month.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack but Taliban militants have vowed to avenge the killing of the al Qaeda chief. [ID:nSGE75A00G]
'WE DON'T WANT THEIR PEOPLE'
The United States kept Islamabad in the dark about the May 2 raid by Navy SEALs until after it was over, humiliating Pakistan's armed forces and putting U.S. military and intelligence ties under serious strain.
said another military official.
"We told him (Panetta) that we are clear. We don't want their people. Intelligence sharing is fine and we are ready for that,"
The United States has already reduced the number of military personnel in Pakistan, the embassy has said.
Washington was alarmed by the fact that bin Laden had apparently been living for years in a Pakistani town about a two-hour drive from the intelligence headquarters.
The CIA has stepped up remotely piloted drone aircraft missile strikes against militant targets in northwest Pakistan since bin Laden's death.
Relations between American and Pakistani intelligence agencies are often hampered by mistrust.
Pakistan is often accused of playing a "double game," vowing to help the United States fight militant groups while supporting some of them, an allegation it denies.
The United States gave Pakistan the locations of militant bomb-making factories last month, the U.S. official said. The sites were later abandoned, suggesting there had been a tip-off.
Panetta raised the issue in his talks with Pakistan's army and intelligence chiefs, said the U.S. official.
Gaining intelligence on the ground in Pakistan, where some militant groups have close ties to the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, is critical for U.S. efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.
"There will be active intelligence sharing on both sides but there will be no American boots on our territory," a third Pakistani military official said, describing the message Panetta received on his trip.
"Any action against the militants will be taken by our forces alone but we will share intelligence on militants actively."
The United States believes the nearly decade-old war effort in neighbouring Afghanistan cannot succeed unless Pakistan tackles insurgent safe havens near the border.
Pakistan pledged on Saturday during a visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to help Afghanistan end the insurgency. (Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball in London and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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