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/ 31 October 2007
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle rammed a Pakistan Air Force bus — killing at least eight people and wounding 40 — near the central city of Sargodha on Thursday, the military said. The security situation in Pakistan has deteriorated sharply in the past few months at a time of political uncertainty.
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/ 30 October 2007
A suicide attack killed at least seven people, including the bomber, less than a kilometre from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s army residence in Rawalpindi on Tuesday. The attacker blew himself up next to a police checkpoint metres away from the gates to the residence of one of Musharraf’s most senior officers, General Tariq Majid.
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/ 30 October 2007
A suicide attack killed at least seven people, including the bomber, less than a kilometre from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s army headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, police said. Three police officers and three passers-by were among those killed, while 11 people were wounded in the blast.
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/ 29 October 2007
Former premier Benazir Bhutto on Monday wrapped up a visit to her ancestral home in southern Pakistan, hailing her supporters for defying security threats and promising them democracy. It was her first trip outside Karachi since twin suicide bombings on October 18 that targeted the two-time premier on her return from exile.
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/ 28 October 2007
Benazir Bhutto visited a family whose son was killed in the suicide blasts that targeted the former Pakistan premier’s homecoming, as she kept up a tightly secured trip on Sunday to her ancestral home. Bhutto made a jubilant return to her family district in rural southern Pakistan on Saturday.
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/ 27 October 2007
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto set off for her ancestral village in southern Pakistan on Saturday, security heavy in the wake of an assassination attempt at a Karachi welcome rally last week that killed 139 people.
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/ 22 October 2007
A senior government official on Monday rejected a call from Benazir Bhutto for foreign experts to help investigate the suicide attack on her homecoming procession. Bhutto said on Sunday she wanted United States and British experts to assist in the probe into Thursday night’s bombing in Karachi.
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/ 22 October 2007
Benazir Bhutto has vowed to press ahead with her campaign to become Pakistan’s next prime minister despite the threat of assassination, and called on the government to seek outside help in investigating last Thursday’s suicide attack. ”We will not be deterred,” she said, after visiting bomb victims at a Karachi hospital.
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/ 20 October 2007
Benazir Bhutto on Friday accused a shadowy web of figures with links to Pakistan’s powerful military establishment of orchestrating Thursday’s huge suicide bombing that killed 138 people and wounded 300. A ”brotherly country” had provided Bhutto with intelligence about four suicide squads roaming Karachi.
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/ 19 October 2007
The Pakistan government blamed Islamist militants for twin blasts early on Friday that killed 133 people as opposition leader Benazir Bhutto drove through masses of supporters in Karachi. Bhutto, travelling in a truck reinforced to withstand bomb attacks, was unhurt by the deadliest bomb attack in her country’s violent history.
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/ 19 October 2007
Pakistani police have found the head of a suspected bomber in a suicide attack that killed at least 133 people as former prime minister Benazir Bhutto passed through masses of supporters in Karachi on Friday. Typically, a bomber’s head is blown off by the upward force of the explosives strapped to his body.
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/ 19 October 2007
A suspected suicide bomber killed 133 people on Friday in an attack on former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, as she was driven through Karachi to greet supporters on her return from eight years in exile. Bhutto was unhurt in one of the deadliest attacks in her country’s history.
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/ 18 October 2007
A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 115 people and wounded 100 on Friday in an attack targeting a vehicle carrying former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto through Karachi on her return from eight years in exile. Bhutto was safe and at her home after leaving the truck that had been transporting her.
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/ 18 October 2007
Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto ended eight years of self-exile on Thursday, returning to Karachi where more than 200Â 000 supporters poured on to the streets to welcome her home. ”I am thankful to God, I am very happy that I’m back in my country and I was dreaming of this day,” said Bhutto.
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/ 18 October 2007
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ended eight years of self-exile on Thursday, making a comeback that could eventually lead to power sharing with President Pervez Musharraf. ”I am thankful to God, I am very happy that I’m back in my country and I was dreaming of this day,” said a sobbing Bhutto.
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/ 18 October 2007
Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto set out on Thursday on a journey home to end eight years of self-exile, under threat of assassination from militants linked to al-Qaeda once she reaches Karachi. For years Bhutto had promised to return to Pakistan to end military dictatorship, yet she is coming back as a potential ally for President Pervez Musharraf.
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/ 17 October 2007
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said she would return to Pakistan on Thursday to end eight years of self-exile and lead her party into national elections despite threats of al-Qaeda inspired suicide attacks. Despite being out of power since 1996, the charismatic Bhutto (54) remains one of the most recognisable women politicians in the world.
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/ 13 October 2007
Pakistan’s Supreme Court threw a spanner into Benazir Bhutto’s plans for a smooth homecoming on Friday by declaring that the former prime minister could still face prosecution on long-standing corruption charges. An amnesty signed into law by President Pervez Musharraf last week could yet be overturned at a hearing three weeks from now.
Pakistani jets pounded militant hideouts near a troubled tribal town for the third day on Tuesday as officials said about 250 people had died in some of the heaviest clashes since 2001. The fighting has forced thousands to flee from Mir Ali, a town that President Pervez Musharraf has previously pinpointed as a den of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.
Thousands of families began fleeing a town in a Pakistani tribal region after three days of fierce clashes between pro-Taliban militants and security forces that killed nearly 200 people. Around 150 militants and 45 soldiers were killed in fighting around Mir Ali, a town known as an al-Qaeda haunt.
About 50 Pakistani troops are missing in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan after fierce battles with Islamic militants that have already claimed 80 lives, the army said on Monday. The soldiers have been out of radio contact since early on Monday in rugged North Waziristan, where the United States says Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network is regrouping.
Pakistani soldiers backed by helicopter gunships killed 20 pro-Taliban militants in an attack on Sunday in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a military spokesperson said. The army attack came hours after staunch United States ally President Pervez Musharraf swept the most votes in a presidential election.
Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf swept the most votes in a presidential election on Saturday but he has to wait for the Supreme Court to confirm the legality of his bid before he can be declared winner. Doubts over whether the election result will stand have fuelled uncertainty.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court kept the fate of President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election bid in its hands by deciding a vote could go ahead on Saturday, but a winner cannot be declared until it rules if he was eligible to stand. United States ally General Musharraf is sure to win the vote in Parliament and the country’s four provincial assemblies.
Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan on Wednesday urged the United States to be more patient as his country fights extremists in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Khan acknowledged his country suffered an ”image problem” but said there needed to be a greater understanding of the enormous challenges.
Pakistani opposition lawyers made a last-ditch effort on Tuesday to block President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election, telling the Supreme Court as army chief he should be ineligible and Saturday’s vote should be postponed. Once re-elected Musharraf has vowed to quit as army chief and become a civilian leader.
A suicide bomber wearing a burqa set off explosives in the north-western Pakistani town of Bannu on Monday killing up to 15 people, including four policemen, security officials said. The blast was the lastest in a wave of attacks, most in the north-west of the country near the border with Afghanistan.
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/ 27 September 2007
Pakistan military leader President Pervez Musharraf filed nomination papers on Thursday to run for re-election on October 6, while the Supreme Court prepared to rule on the army chief’s eligibility to stand. A bench of nine judges is due to deliver a ruling on Friday that could have far-reaching consequences for Pakistan’s transition to greater democracy.
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/ 26 September 2007
Pakistan deployed dozens of police officers including elite commandos as the South African cricket team arrived in Karachi on Wednesday for a month-long tour of the country. South Africa are due to play two Tests and five one-day internationals in the violence-hit Islamic republic.
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/ 21 September 2007
Pakistan’s General Pervez Musharraf appointed a new military spy chief and made several other promotions on Friday, days after announcing his plan to step down as head of the army. Appointments are closely watched in Pakistan, as generals have ruled for more than half of the 60 years since the country was founded.
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/ 20 September 2007
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden called on Muslims in Pakistan to wage holy war against the government of President Pervez Musharraf in a new audio message issued on Thursday. Bin Laden declared al-Qaeda’s intention to retaliate for the blood spilled of "champions of Islam".
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/ 18 September 2007
Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf will give up his post of army chief if he is re-elected president and he will be sworn in for a new term as a civilian, his lawyer told the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The promise to stand down as army chief removes a major objection to Musharraf’s proposed re-election by October 15.