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Pakistan Orders Crackdown on Militants

   VOA News 12 July 2010
   A  Pakistani villager carries an injured person at the spot of bombing
   in Yakaghund in Pakistani tribal area of Mohmand, 09 Jul 2010

Photo: AP

   A  Pakistani villager carries an injured person at the spot of bombing
   in Yakaghund in Pakistani tribal area of Mohmand, 09 Jul 2010

   Authorities in Pakistan have ordered a crackdown on militants, after a
   series of deadly attacks that rocked the country in recent weeks.
   Officials   say   police  detained  more  than  200  suspects  in  the
   northwestern  city  of Peshawar on Monday, just two days after suicide
   blasts killed 102 people in the nearby Mohmand tribal region.  It was
   unclear if any of those arrested had connections to the attack.
   In  the  eastern  state  of Punjab, authorities say they have detained
   close  to  100  members  of  banned  militant  organizations in recent
   days.  The extremist Sunni Muslim group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP)
   and  the  Islamic  charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, considered a front for the
   militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, were among those targeted.
   Some  politicians  in  Punjab have been accused of links to the banned
   militant  groups.   A  suicide  attack  killed  42 people at a Muslim
   Shrine in Punjab's capital city, Lahore, on July 1.
   The  new  commander  of  U.S.  and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General
   David   Petraeus,  praised  Pakistan's  efforts  to  combat  militancy
   following talks with Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
   in Islamabad on Monday.
   In  a  statement,  Petraeus  said  recent  events demonstrate both the
   common  threat posed to Pakistan and Afghanistan by insurgents and the
   efforts  the  Pakistani  military  is  making  to  counter the threat.
   Petraeus also said he looked forward to working with General Kayani to
   improve regional security.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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