Climate of insecurity and attacks on the eve of elections in Afghanistan

Kabul, 18 Aug 2009. - Just two days after the presidential elections, the Afghan Taliban back to act today with two suicide bombings that killed at least a dozen deaths and a rocket attack on the Presidential Palace in Kabul, a city on alert and completely taken by the security forces.
The most serious attack took place on the dangerous road leading Jalalabad (east) from Kabul, a frequent target of insurgents because at the exit of the capital are several barracks of U.S. troops and ISAF.
The bomber threw his car into a military convoy of the ISAF, killing seven people and wounded other forty, according to official sources in Afghanistan.
But in a statement, NATO said the last information available "indicates that among the dead soldier of ISAF, seven Afghan civilians and two Afghan employees of the UN mission in Afghanistan", the latter data confirmed by the United Nations.
ISAF also increased the number of injured to 55, including two NATO military.
The attack was condemned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, hours after two rockets fell near his palace without causing casualties.
And, according to a police source consulted by Efe, another suicide attack claimed the lives of two civilians and three Afghan soldiers and wounded five other people in the central-southern Uruzgan, where the Taliban have a strong presence.
This month there have been several attacks and rockets fired from the outskirts on Kabul, a relatively isolated city of armed conflict and where people still remember the martyrdom to which they were subjected during the civil war in the 1990s and live almost daily with attacks.
Attacks like today against ISAF convoy and other military installations or headquarters official charged whenever a majority of casualties among civilians in the vicinity.
On the eve of elections, Kabul is taken by thousands of army soldiers, police and private security guards armed with "Kalashnikov" or machine guns to protect important buildings.
The embassy area with successive passage controls and strategic buildings are walled with thick barbed wire and concrete blocks to protect themselves from attacks by the Taliban, who have demonstrated their ability to hit l to city.
"Security said Efe the chief of the Afghan secret service, Amrullah Saleh-like bread. A well you need without ceasing. Will forever be our concern and we will need is a good time. Our actions and efforts will not stop after the elections. "
The massive presence of security forces has not dented the perception of Afghans: According to a recent study by the American Institute IRI, security is one of the two main problems in Afghanistan for 56 percent of citizens polled, 21 points above the economic situation.
"I have it (the gun) for safety. Here in Kabul there are constant robberies and kidnappings, "says Efe a 22 year old Tajik concerned about rising crime, while wielding a Beretta 9 mm Italian Parabellum inside a car.
According to various reports, the Afghan roads are infested with bandits who ambush truckers and travelers, without being clear on many occasions the border separating the insurgent Taliban common criminal.
"I'm not sure, of course not. Police are not active and has no equipment to solve problems. Kidnappings and robberies are perpetrated by people Kabul in uniform. Corruption is one hundred percent, "says Mohammad Nader businessman in the capital district of Makroyan.
Before the Taliban threat and climate of generalized insecurity, foreign embassies in Kabul rush to advise its citizens to take precautions, especially during the election period.
"We should leave just enough, so dress to not draw attention, less elegantly as possible. The alert level is permanent and should not lower our guard, "said Efe a diplomatic source.
In Afghanistan there are about 100,000 police, but most are poorly trained and equipped, low paid and barely have adequate infrastructure, exposed Efe a spokesman for the EU police mission in Afghanistan (EUPOL), Andrea Angeli.
Only in the capital, there are about 8,500 agents in charge of keeping order, but according to Angeli are much more accurate in a city plagued by robberies and kidnappings, with foreign employers and main objectives.

India and Pakistan demands extradition proposed a joint investigation

New Delhi, December 2, 2008. - After ruling that you are considering the military option, India demanded Pakistan today the delivery of a dozen suspected terrorists and this country has proposed a joint investigation into the Mumbai attacks.
The two countries continued today by measuring their disagreements, in an escalation of tension in which intervene morning Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who moves to New Delhi and, according to unconfirmed reports, also in Islamabad.
"The international community supports us, including the new President-elect Barack Obama," proclaimed the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, noting that his country is awaiting Pakistan's response to their demands.
"Nobody is talking of military action," reassured the minister, told reporters during the inauguration of the India-Arab Forum, according to the Indian agencies.
His Government was last night summoned the Pakistani ambassador in India, Shahid Malik, to deliver a formal protest by the involvement of "elements from Pakistan" in the Mumbai attacks.
Through Malik, Indian authorities demanded that Pakistan "strong action" against those elements and called for the delivery of a score of "fugitives under the laws of India who have settled in Pakistan," Mukherjee said today.
Among the "fugitives" demanded by India is the gangster allegedly responsible for the attacks in Bombay in 1993, Dawood Ibrahim, and the leaders of the Kashmiri groups Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Mohamed Said, and Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM), Masood Azhar.
"We made ​​the request on Monday. We are awaiting a response from Pakistan, "Mukherjee said, adding:" what is going to do, time will tell. "
It still react to that specific request, his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, today offered India the creation of a joint commission to investigate the Mumbai attacks, but insisted that his neighbor did not return to Pakistan without foundation.
The Pakistani national and alleged terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba (a group that fights for the annexation of Kashmir to Pakistan and is based in this country) have led to the Indian media to point to the Administration responsible Pakistani what this country "strongly refutes" according to Qureshi.
According to research, a terrorist sailed from the Pakistani port city of Karachi and from there sailed off to reach the Indian city of Bombay and its tremendous launch attacks that left 188 dead last week.
In a statement, Qureshi said he had transferred his joint research proposal to a group of diplomats in Islamabad, to whom he reiterated his Government's intention to cooperate to "bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous terrorist act."
The joint commission proposed by Pakistan, according to Qureshi, would be chaired by national security advisers of both countries and would meet "as soon as possible to exchange information" over the attack.
For such cooperation, Qureshi said the need for both countries to avoid falling into the "blame game and hostile propaganda", which will benefit the terrorists.
What to do India and Pakistan, the minister said Pakistan is to continue the dialogue process initiated in 2004, which in his opinion is helping to make "significant progress" in strengthening mutual trust.
In fact, Qureshi had met Mukherjee in India shortly before the start of the Mumbai attacks, which forced him to cut short his official visit.
And while Mukherjee ruled out the use of military action, Qureshi assured about the same time in a televised address to the nation that the Pakistani army is "fully capable" of defending its borders.

Authorities attributed to "foreign terrorists" the attacks in Hyderabad

New Delhi, 26 Aug 2007. - The Indian city of Hyderabad (South India) today morning paralyzed by the attacks on Saturday, killing at 42 people and wounding dozens, work, officials said, of "terrorist groups International Pakistan and Bangladesh. "
In the hospitals of the city continue admitted 70 people, wincing from affected families, for which the regional government has already announced compensation.
In a press appearance after an emergency meeting, the regional governor of Andhra, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, said the bombings were the work of "international terrorist groups."
"Most of the time, international terrorist organizations are responsible for these horrific acts (...) We can not have intelligence networks in Bangladesh and Pakistan," said Reddy, who denied a failure of Indian intelligence services.
The two explosions, almost simultaneously, occurred on Saturday in an outdoor auditorium in Hyderabad, with 10 deaths, and in a crowded fast food restaurant located five kilometers from the first point, which killed 32 people.
According to Reddy, for the moment no arrests in connection with the bombings in Hyderabad, a city that was hit by another attack on 18 May when a bomb killed nine people inside the central mosque in Mecca, and gave rise to riots with police that killed five people shot.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday, several Indian media today pointed to the Islamic group Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HUJI), which researchers also responsible for the explosion of the mosque.
The security forces have already determined that the perpetrators of the blasts used timers, unlike the mosque, which used a mobile telephone and hid in black plastic bags bombs, consisting of ammonium nitrate and metal balls.
In addition, hours after the explosions, security forces recovered two unexploded devices with a cinema, which reinforces the theory that it was a large-scale conspiracy, according to a police source quoted by IANS.
Regarding the possible role of the HUJI, the NDTV television channel reported that research teams are assessing the role of Mohammed Abdul Sahed (aka "Bilal"), who allegedly participated in the bombing of the mosque, but the bombs in both attacks have a different composition.
In his appearance, Reddy announced that the families of the dead will get a donation of 500,000 rupees (about $ 12,140, ​​8,900 euros) and a public work, while the injured will aid of 20,000 rupees (about 485 dollars, 350 euros) Places the explosions were very busy: in the auditorium, located in the Lumbini Park, about 500 people witnessed a laser show, while the restaurant is in a popular shopping area on weekends.
The authorities immediately declared a red alert in Andhra which spread to the adjacent region of Tamil Nadu.
At night, many people succumbed to injuries in hospitals, who lived a flurry to meet the victims of the blasts.
The Indian minister Shivraj Patil is scheduled to arrive today in the city where the authorities of Andhra will hold a meeting of all parties.
The opposition Conservative Party Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party has called for its part the Government to make public a statement with major attacks in recent years, accusing him of showing "soft" on terrorism.
Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil and the leader of the Congress Party government had yesterday expressed its condemnation of the attacks and their more "serious concern".
In Hyderabad, a city that has developed strongly in recent years thanks to the computer services industry, is scheduled today the conclusion of 10,000 marriages because astrologers have considered "auspicious" day.
With a sizeable Muslim minority, Hyderabad experienced violent riots in the 70 and 80.

At least 30 dead and 60 wounded in two blasts in south India

New Delhi, 25 Aug 2007. - At least 30 people were killed and 60 injured today when two bombs explode in the city of Hyderabad in southern India, official sources reported.
The blasts took place at 19.45 local time (14.15 GMT) at the Lumbini amusement park, near the headquarters of the regional government of Andhra, and in the cafeteria Goku Chat in the commercial area of Koti, about five kilometers.
The latter was the bloodiest action, with 24 deaths, said the regional minister of Interior, K. Jana Reddy, told the Indian agency PTI.
Reddy added that according to preliminary investigations, it was a "terrorist act", the interior minister, Shivraj Patil described as "horrible."
Intelligence sources quoted by the television channel NDTV said that the action was "meticulously planned and executed" and that the authors used timers and explosives "high intensity".
Speaking to IANS Indian agency, the information minister of Andhra and Energy Mohammed Ali Shabbir, confirmed the death of six people in the Lumbini Park blast, which took place when some 500 spectators, including many children, watched a show laser.
The blast occurred in the outdoor auditorium and next to a lake when the function had just begun and, according to witnesses, was so powerful that some people jumped into the air.
"The show started and after a while we hear an explosion. People started to run back and forth in complete disarray, "he told a television station a security guard at the park.
According to the agency IANS, half an hour after the explosion there were three bodies of children between the chairs Lumbini Park auditorium.
Another three people died and in the hospital, where doctors claim that several injured are in critical condition.
The Hyderabad police commissioner, Balwinder Singh, said the death toll in the explosion could be higher because the place is crowded with families who come to spend the day at weekends.
Hyderabad was taken shortly after the blasts by dozens of ambulances arriving in the affected areas to transport the injured to hospitals and Osmania Gandhi, the latter notorious for hosting the wounded from the explosion of May at the Mecca Mosque of the city, with nine deaths.
After cordoning off the area, police quickly recognized that this was an attack, while the prime minister of the region, Rajasekhara Reddy visited the affected area and appealed for calm to the population.
The opposition, however, accused the government of having neglected security in a city recently hit by terrorist violence and denounced the lack of security checks at Lumbini Park, where anyone can enter on payment of 10 cents.
The city, where tomorrow is scheduled to hold mass wedding of 10,000, is on high alert and authorities have initiated security checks at train stations and buses, PTI reported.
On May 18, Hyderabad was attacked in the central Mecca mosque, where thousands of Muslims had gathered to celebrate the Friday prayers.
Now, the intelligence services are investigating whether the pumps have to do with that explosion, which led to a wave of violent clashes with police in which several people were shot.
Between the calls to the tranquility of the authorities, both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the leader of the ruling Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi expressed concern about the incident and condemned the attacks.