LAHORE: Teams of gunmen attacked three law enforcement facilities across the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday, paralyzing Pakistan's cultural capital, while a car bomb devastated a northwest police station, killing a total of 39 people in an escalating wave of terror in this nuclear-armed US ally.
Another bombing in the northwestern city of Peshawar later in the day wounded five people, further rattling the country.
The bloodshed, aimed at scuttling a planned offensive into the militant heartland along the Afghan border, highlights the militants' ability to carry out sophisticated strikes on heavily fortified facilities and exposes the failure of the intelligence agencies to adequately infiltrate the extremist cells.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, though suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban who have claimed other recent strikes. The attacks Thursday also were the latest to underscore the growing threat to Punjab, the province next to India where the Taliban are believed to have made inroads and linked up with local insurgent outfits.
President Asif Ali Zardari said the bloodshed that has engulfed the nation over the past 11 days would not deter the government from its mission to eliminate the violent extremists, according to a statement on the state-run news agency.
``The enemy has started a guerrilla war,'' Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. ``The whole nation should be united against these handful of terrorists, and God willing we will defeat them.''
The wave of violence practically shut down daily life in Lahore. All government offices were ordered shut, the roads were nearly empty, major markets did not open and stores that had been open pulled down their shutters.
The assaults began just after 9 a.m. when a group of gunmen attacked a building housing the Federal Investigation Agency, a law enforcement branch that deals with matters ranging from immigration to terrorism.
``We are under attack,'' said Mohammad Riaz, an FIA employee reached inside the building via phone by The Associated Press during the assault. ``I can see two people hit, but I do not know who they are.''
The attack lasted about 1 1/2 hours and ended with the death of two attackers, four government employees and a bystander, senior government official Sajjad Bhutta said. Senior police official Chaudhry Shafiq said one of the dead wore a jacket bearing explosives.
Soon after, a second band of gunman raided a police training school in Manawan on the outskirts of the city in a brief attack that killed nine police officers and four militants, according to police and hospital officials. One of the gunmen was killed by police at the compound and the other three blew themselves up.
The facility was hit earlier this year in an attack that sparked an eight-hour standoff with the army that left 12 people dead.
A third team of at least eight gunmen scaled the back wall of an elite police commando training center not far from the airport and attacked the facility, Lahore police chief Pervez Rathore said.
A family barricaded itself in a room in a house, while the attackers stood on the roof, shooting at security forces and throwing grenades, said Lt. Gen. Shafqat Ahmad, the top military official in Lahore.
Two attackers were slain in the gunbattle and three blew themselves up, he said. One police nursing assistant and a civilian also died in the attack, he said.
Television footage showed helicopters in the air over one of the police facilities and paramilitary forces with rifles and bulletproof vests taking cover behind trees outside a wall surrounding the compound. Rana Sanaullah, provincial law minister of Punjab province, said police were trying to take some of the attackers alive so they could get information from them about their militant networks.
Officials have warned that Taliban fighters close to the border are increasingly joining forces with Punjabi militants spread out across the country and foreign al-Qaida operatives, dramatically increasing the dangers to Pakistan. Punjab is Pakistan's most populous and powerful province, and the Taliban claimed recently that they were activating cells there and elsewhere in the country for assaults.
An official at the provincial Punjab government's main intelligence agency said they had precise information about expected attacks on security targets and alerted police this week, but the assailants still managed to strike. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the situation.
Despite their reach and influence, the nation's feared spy agencies have failed to stop the bloody attacks plaguing the country.
Kamran Bokhari, an analyst with Stratfor, a US-based global intelligence firm, said Pakistan needed to penetrate more militant groups and intercept conversations to prevent attacks, but the task was complicated in a country so big and populous.
``The militants are able to exploit certain things on the ground, like the anti-American sentiment, which is not just in society — it's also in the military,'' he added.
In the Taliban-riddled northwest, meanwhile, a suicide car bomb exploded next to a police station in the Saddar area of Kohat, collapsing half the building and killing 11 people — three police officers and eight civilians — Kohat police chief Abdullah Khan said.
Early Thursday evening, a bomb planted in a car outside a home in the Gulshan Rehman area of Peshawar city exploded, city police chief Ijaz Khan said. A nearby school was closed at the time. Local police official Aalam Sher said five wounded people were hospitalized.
Footage shown on local TV showed people who appeared to be teenagers being put into ambulances. The damaged vehicle was flipped on its side and jutted out of what appeared to be a garage. Piles of bricks littered the nearby roads.
The US has encouraged Pakistan to take strong action against insurgents who are using its soil as a base for attacks in Afghanistan, where US troops are bogged down in an increasingly difficult war. It has carried out a slew of its own missile strikes in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt over the past year, killing several top militants including Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
One suspected US missile strike killed four people overnight Thursday when it hit a compound in an area in North Waziristan tribal region where members of the militant network led by Jalaluddin Haqqani are believed to operate, two intelligence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Pakistan formally protests the missile strikes as violations of its sovereignty, but many analysts believe it has a secret deal with the US allowing them.
The militants have claimed credit for a wave of attacks that began with an October 5 strike on the UN food agency in Islamabad and included a siege of the army's headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi that left 23 people dead.
The Taliban have warned Pakistan to stop pursuing them in military operations.
The Pakistani army has given no time frame for its expected offensive in South Waziristan tribal region, but has reportedly already sent two divisions totaling 28,000 men and blockaded the area.
Fearing the looming offensive, about 200,000 people have fled South Waziristan since August, moving in with relatives or renting homes in the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan areas, a local government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Taliban chief threatens to dispatch militants to fight India
ISLAMABAD: As his militants wrought havoc in the country by a series of attacks and suicide blasts, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has threatened to dispatch terrorists to fight India, once an Islamic state had been created in Pakistan.
"We want an Islamic state. If we get that, then we will go to the borders and help fight the Indians," Hakimullah said in footage aired by Britain's Sky News channel.
The channel said it recently acquired the footage of Hakimullah, who claimed responsibility for several attacks across Pakistan over the past week, including a terrorist assault on the Army's General Headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi over the weekend.
"We are fighting the (Pakistani) military, police and militia because they are following American orders. If they stop following their orders, we will stop fighting them," said Hakimullah, in what was seen as desperate last minute efforts to stop Pakistan army's offensive into his group's stronghold of Waziristan.
Hakimullah was named the new chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan after his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack in Waziristan in August.
India, Russia to launch fifth generation fighter jets
Moscow: India and Russia will launch the joint fifth generation fighters by year end and have agreed to collaborate to develop heavy lift cargo helicopters and futuristic infantry combat vehicles.
The path for more hi-tech defence collaboration between Moscow and New Delhi was paved with the signing of the joint defence protocol by Defence Minister AK Antony and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov.
The protocol extends military interaction between the two countries till 2020 and this is expected to make the path clear for inking more major defence joint ventures during the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in early December.
The protocol was signed here at the end of 9th session of India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on military-technical cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) after assurances
from Moscow that all pending issues like the delivery of aircraft carrier Gorshkov and nuclear submarine Nerpa would be resolved at the earliest.
The protocol provides for completion of formalities by the year end to launch the joint designing, development and production of fifth generation fighter aircraft project.
Besides the development of a state-of-the-art multi-role transport aircraft (MTA) through a joint venture along the lines of highly successful BrahMos JV, India and Russia have also agreed to jointly develop a heavy lift cargo helicopter and futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV).
A joint statement released after the meeting said that India and Russia will collaborate in up-gradation of IAF's main strike fighter Su-30MKI, the older Mig-27 and T-72M1 battle tanks.
It said that the two sides had also worked out the production in India of Main Battle Tanks (MBT) T-90S with full technology transfer.
Centre is unanimous on dealing with Maoists: Rahul
Ranchi: In the backdrop of a spurt in Naxal violence, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday that there was complete unanimity at the Centre over dealing with Maoist menace and accused non-Congress ruled Orissa and Chhattisgarh of failing to reach out to the people to check the problem.
"There is complete unanimity as far as the government is concerned on Naxalism. State governments should reach out to the people to combat it but governments like Chhattisgarh and Orissa are not doing so," Gandhi told a press conference in Ranchi.
Replying to a question on increase in Naxal violence, he said that except for some pockets the overall law and order situation in the country was good. The advent of sophisticated weaponry, he said, was responsible for violence all over the world.
Gandhi also launched a fresh attack on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati alleging she was opposed to NREGA which was "the best scheme that benefited crores of people".
"The UP CM is not interested in NREGA and has termed it not good. We can't do much if state governments do not implement the programmes," he said.
"If state governments implement NREGA it functions smoothly. If state governments don't, then there is corruption," Gandhi said when told about corruption in the programme.
He said there were "two Hindustans --- one with basic amenities and opportunities while the other poverty-stricken" and Congress' effort was to connect the so that all people prospered.
Indian Business News
PM for listing more PSEs on bourses
New Delhi: Keen on unlocking value of public sector enterprises, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the government was encouraging them to raise resources by listing on the stock exchanges.
"The government is encouraging the listing of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs), as this unlocks the true value of a company, improves its corporate governance standards and also helps it in raising resources for funding future expansion plans," he said at an award function for the PSEs here.
Singh said several PSEs have got their shares listed on the markets in the last two years and many more want to do so.
"This shows they are not shying away from market scrutiny and are ready to face new challenges," he said at a function organised by the Standing Conference of Public Sector Enterprises (SCOPE).
Since the UPA came to office for the second term this May, two public sector companies -- NHPC and Oil India – have listed on the bourses. More are in the pipeline. Forty-three PSEs account for 24 per cent of Bombay Stock Exchange's market cap of Rs 58 lakh crore.
Of the top 10 listed companies on BSE, five belong to the public sector. "More and more PSEs are entering capital market and are striving to become global players," he said.
Lauding the role of these units in the economy, he said India weathered the global slowdown better than most other countries. "This is a reflection of the strengths of Indian economy..." he said.
Cognizant acquires UBS India's BPO unit
New Delhi: Nasdaq-listed IT company Cognizant said it has entered into a definitive agreement with the UBS Group for acquiring the latter's Hyderabad-based BPO unit.
The company did not divulge any financial detail.
According to sources, the deal is valued at USD 72-75 million (around Rs 340 crore).
As part of the transaction, financial services provider UBS and Cognizant have entered into a multi-year services pact, under which Cognizant will provide business process outsourcing (BPO), knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), IT and remote infrastructure management services to UBS divisions globally, Cognizant said in a statement.
The UBS unit, called UBS India Service Centre (UBS ISC), employs about 2,000 associates, who would now be a part of Cognizant, it added.
UBS ISC's capabilities in wealth management, investment banking, asset management, research, and remote IT infrastructure management will help Cognizant strengthen its BPO and KPO capabilities, financial services domain knowledge and as well provide integrated services across consulting, technology, and outsourcing, it said.
"This acquisition extends our leadership position in financial services," Cognizant CEO Francisco D’Souza said.
Subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close around the end of 2009, the statement said.
Nokia reports Q3 loss of 559 mn euros
Helsinki/New Delhi: Hit by hefty impairment charges and declining sales, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia Corp plunged into a loss of 559 million euros in third quarter of this year.
In the year-ago period, the company had a net profit of 1.08 billion euros, Nokia said in a statement.
The company's net sales decreased to 9.81 billion euros in third quarter of 2009 from 12.23 billion euros in the same period last fiscal.
Nokia Siemens Networks, a 50:50 joint venture of Nokia Corp and German Siemens AG, had suffered non-cash asset impairment charges of 908 million euros and 29 million euros for restructuring and other one time charges.
The JV firm registered net sales of 2.8 billion euros, down 21 per cent from the same period last year and also witnessed a 14 per cent decline from the second quarter.
"The demand for mobile devices improved in many markets during Q3. With the average selling price of our devices holding firm quarter-on-quarter, our higher device volumes translated into increased net sales in our devices & services business.”
"Our volumes and net sales were, however, somewhat constrained by component shortages we encountered across the portfolio. Challenging competitive factors and market conditions in the infrastructure and related services business necessitated non-cash impairment charges at Nokia Siemens Networks," Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said.
Indian Sports News
BCCI sacks Team India coaches
NEW DELHI: Indian team's bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh were on Thursday sacked by the BCCI, which did not give any reasons for the unceremonious dumping.
"The BCCI has decided to discontinue the services of bowling coach Mr Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Mr Robin Singh with immediate effect," said a brief statement from Board secretary N Srinivasan.
Although the Board's decision to sack them came as a surprise, both Prasad and Singh were under the scanner after India's dismal show in the Twenty20 World Cup and last month's Champions Trophy.
Top Indian bowlers like Ishant Sharma and RP Singh have struggled for form for long spells with the latter being dropped from the ODI squad for the seven-match ODI series against Australia on Thursday.
Even a proven match-winner like off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was struggling in the Champions Trophy.
Despite being a top-notch fielder in his own playing days, Singh hasn't managed to raise the team's standard since taking over.
Barring exceptions like Yuvraj Singh, Indian players have been quite ordinary, inviting open criticism from captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on several occasions.
Several former players have also questioned Prasad and Singh's contribution to the team's cause, saying the standard has remained as bad as it was before their appointment.
The duo was appointed after India's 2007 One-day World Cup debacle and didn't have any contract with the Board.
Prasad, a right-arm seamer who claimed 96 Test and 196 One-day wickets, said he had not been informed of his sudden removal.
"But if this is true, I am deeply disappointed and hurt," he said. "I have no doubt that I have done my job for the Indian team to the best of my abilities.
"I will try to contact the Indian board and find out what I did wrong that has led them to take this decision."
Singh, who scored 2,336 runs and claimed 69 wickets in 131 ODIs, had recently been appointed coach of Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians team in the Indian Premier League.
Sehwag, Yuvraj back for Oz series, Dravid axed
Chennai: Seasoned batsman Rahul Dravid's one-day future was thrown into uncertainty after he was dropped from India's 15-member squad for the first two ODIs of a seven-match series against Australia starting October 25.
The 36-year-old Dravid, who made a comeback to the one-day fold recently in the September tri-series in Sri Lanka and the ensuing Champions Trophy in South Africa, failed to find favour with the selectors despite a decent show since returning, scoring 180 runs from five matches at an average of 36.
The dashing duo of Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh returned to the side after recovering from their respective injuries that forced them out of the Champions Trophy.
Rookie Uttar Pradesh pacer Sudeep Tyagi was the lone new face while another fast bowler Munaf Patel and young all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja made a comeback to the squad announced by the BCCI after a selection panel meeting here.
In an apparent fallout of India's Champions Trophy debacle, out of form all-rounder Yusuf Pathan and pacer RP Singh were dropped from the squad. Wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik and young all-rounder Abhishek Nayar were also left out.
The return of the experienced Yuvraj and Sehwag prompted the selectors to leave out Dravid as it would have been difficult to accommodate the Karnataka right-hander in the middle order.
They instead decided to persist with young right-hander Virat Kohli.
Dravid, a regular in the Test squad, has compiled 10,765 runs in 339 one-dayers at an average of 39.43. The 22-year-old Tyagi, a surprise pick in the team to be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has played 16 first-class match and has taken 57 wickets at an average of 25.73. He has been rewarded for his fine show in the recent Challenger Series in Nagpur, taking three wickets against India Blue in the final.
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