Al-Qaeda issues new threats on KSA

DUBAI: AL-QAEDA has threatened further attacks inside Saudi Arabia following a suicide bomber's failed attempt to kill Riyadh's deputy interior minister last month, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

'If you can flee with your skin, then do so. By Allah, they will climb your walls and will come to you from where you do not expect,' Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Abu Baseer al-Wuhayshi says in a video posted online, the US-based monitoring group reported.

Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, responsible for security affairs, was lightly injured in the Aug 27 attack in Jeddah that was claimed by AQAP, which named the bomber as Abdullah bin Hassan bin Taleh Assiri.

'Our heroes have woven their grave-clothes with your blood,' Wuhayshi says. The video also contains a telephone conversation between Assiri and the prince, in which the bomber says he wishes to return to Saudi Arabia from Yemen because he has repented.

On Sept 1 the Saudi interior ministry also released excerpts of the same conversation.

'I would like to meet you to discuss the whole matter with you,' Assiri told Mohammed, according to the excerpts broadcast by Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television. The conversation took place after Assiri arrived at the the Saudi-Yemeni border, state news agency SPA reported.

Assiri was taken to Jeddah and when he arrived at Mohammed's residence and met him, he confirmed his wish to hand himself in and also help a group of Saudis living in Yemen to return home, the ministry said. While making a phone call to one of them in the reception room where they were meeting, he blew himself up.

Saudi and Yemeni branches of Al-Qaeda announced in January their merger into 'Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula'.

The attempt to kill Prince Mohammed was the first high-profile Al-Qaeda attack on the Saudi government since militants rammed a car bomb into the fortified interior ministry in Riyadh in 2004.

It was also the first strike on a member of the royal family since Al-Qaeda launched a wave of attacks in the kingdom in 2003, targeting Western establishments and oil facilities and killing more than 150 Saudis and foreigners.

SOURCE: http://geo.tv/9-22-2009/49596.htm

Musharraf to return Pakistan under good circumstance

PHILADELPHIA: Former president Pervez Musharraf said he will not retaliate against those, who are demanding to try him under Article 6. Talking to journalists after Eid prayer in Philadelphia, he said he will return Pakistan when circumstances improve. Former president ruled out the possibility of another coup, however said that he will return home under pleasant conditions.

Moderate earthquake hits northwest Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A moderate 5.5-magnitude earthquake jolted northwestern Pakistan Saturday, but there were no reports of casualties or damage, officials said.

Tremors were felt at 10:17 am (0417 GMT) in several parts of northwestern Pakistan including Peshawar, the capital of northwest frontier province, a seismological department official told AFP.

The epicentre was about 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Peshawar in the remote Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan, and was registered at a depth of 187 kilometres, it said.

Residents panicked in some parts but there were no reports of any casualties or damage, the official said.

A 7.6-magnitude quake on October 8, 2005 claimed more than 73,000 lives, seriously injured nearly 70,000 people and left 3.3 million homeless in Pakistan. More than 1,000 also died in Indian Kashmir.

SOURCE:http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/18-moderate-earthquake-hits-nwfp-am-02

Islamabad police raids US-linked security firm

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad police in an early morning raid claim to have recovered 61 illegal guns and nine pistols from the offices of a private security firm providing security to the US embassy.

The raid comes after it was revealed that the Interior Ministry had issued licences of highly sophisticated assault riffles to the company with the Prime Minister’s special permission.

The police has registered a case of fraud against the owner of the company and arrested two persons from the offices of Inter Risk.

US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson had held meetings with Prime Minister Gilani and the Interior Minister Rehman Malik for approval of the licenses.

Although the weapons are owned by the US embassy, they are to be carried by Inter Risk personnel.

The security firm Inter Risk had signed a contract with the US embassy in April to provide security to American employees of theUS embassy in Pakistan. — DawnNews

Meeting called for moon sighting in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: A joint meeting of zonal and local committees has been called for sighting of Eid moon here today after which chances of celebrating one Eid all over the country have grown thin.

According to Geo News a joint meeting of zonal and local committees of NWFP has been called today at Masjid Qasim Ali Khan in Peshawar where witnesses regarding moon sighting in the province will be collected.

It may be recalled that Senior Minister NWFP Bashir Ahmed Bilour has said that if decision based on Sharia regarding moon sighting is made, then Eid would be celebrated in NWFP.

Today’s meeting will be very significant in view of this statement from the provincial minister.

SOURCE:http://geo.tv/9-19-2009/49479.htm