Taliban resist Pakistan onslaught

aliban militants are putting up fierce resistance to the Pakistan army as it attempts to oust them from strongholds in the remote South Waziristan region.

Dozens of casualties have been reported after the first day of the attack - the biggest offensive for six years.

The army has mobilised artillery and troops in the area

Unconfirmed reports say 26 militants and five soldiers have been killed as heavy artillery and air strikes pound Taliban hideouts for a second day.

Thousands of civilians have fled the area for safety.

Up to 20,000 people have entered camps just outside the area, with aid agencies warning that many more could be displaced by fighting.

The military, mobilising from three directions, is controlling entry and exit points in the region.

Reports from the area are sketchy as it is difficult and dangerous for foreign or Pakistani journalists to operate inside South Waziristan.

Soldiers captured a Taliban stronghold at Spinkai Raghzai on Saturday after the militants withdrew to nearby mountains.

"It is a flat area, so whenever they tried to put up resistance, the helicopter gunships fired at them so they decided to flee to the mountains," a senior government official told Reuters news agency.

Troops established a checkpoint en route to Kotkai, the home town of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, AFP reported.

There had been several co-ordinated Taliban attacks in the run-up to the offensive, killing more than 150 people in cities across Pakistan.

FORCES IN WAZIRISTAN Pakistan army: Two divisions totalling 28,000 soldiers Frontier Corp: Paramilitary forces from tribal areas likely to support army Taliban militants: Estimated between 10,000 and 20,000 Uzbek fighters supporting Taliban: Estimates widely vary between 500-5,000 Challenges in Waziristan Pakistanis reflect on offensive

Security is tight in towns and cities throughout Pakistan in case the Taliban carry out revenge attacks.

Nearly all communications in the region were down after the Taliban destroyed a telecommunications tower at Tiarza, local officials said.

Aerial bombardments in the Makeen area, a stronghold of the Mehsud tribe and a key army target, were also reported by local officials and witnesses.

The ground operation comes after weeks of air and artillery strikes against militant targets in the region, which lies close to the Afghan border.

There is a huge army presence on the road between Tank and Dera Ismail Khan, says the BBC's Islamabad correspondent Shoaib Hasan, near South Waziristan.

The army has been massing troops near the militants' stronghold for months - ever since the governor of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province announced a ground offensive in South Waziristan on 15 June.

Pakistan's government has been under considerable pressure from the US to tackle militancy there.

North and South Waziristan form a lethal militant belt from where insurgents have launched attacks across north-west Pakistan as well as into parts of eastern Afghanistan.

South Waziristan is considered to be the first significant sanctuary for Islamic militants outside Afghanistan since 9/11.

NASA photos show moon strike created plume

LOS ANGELES – NASA's much-hyped mission to hurl a spacecraft into the moon turned out some worthwhile data after all, scientists said.

In this Oct. 9, 2009 image provided by NASA, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Diviner instrument …

New images show a mile-high plume of lunar debris from the Cabeus crater shortly after the space agency's Centaur rocket struck Oct. 9.

"We were blown away by the data returned," Anthony Colaprete, the mission's chief scientist, said in a report Friday from the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., which managed the launch. "The team is working hard on the analysis, and the data appear to be of very high quality."

In media coverage before the impact, many observers said they were disappointed at the lack of spectacle.

But scientists said the mission was carried out for "a scientific purpose, not to put on a fireworks display for the public," said space consultant Alan Stern, a former NASA associate administrator for science.

By creating the debris cloud, scientists were able to use the $79-million Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite to sample and study the dust. The LCROSS itself crashed into the same crater four minutes after the Centaur's impact, right on schedule, while its companion spacecraft, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, was flying in lunar orbit 50 miles above the site to gather still more data.

But Michio Kaku, a professor at the City College of New York and host of "Sci Q Sundays" on the Science Channel, said NASA may be jumping the gun in calling the results "a smashing success," acting in response to public criticism of the mission.

"To be a spectacular success, we had to find large quantities of underground ice," Kaku told The Associated Press Saturday. He said scientists still have more work to do to analyze the data for the presence of ice or water.

"They got beautiful pictures of the event, but that's not why we spent $79 million," Kaku said. "Ice on the moon is more valuable than gold."

The crashes created a man-made crater about one-fifth the size of a football field, Brown University geologist and LCROSS scientist Peter Schultz told The AP.

Colaprete said it was too early to say what the plume contained but that several clues, including the temperature of the flash created by the crash, will help scientists find out in coming weeks.

Finding significant amounts of water on the moon would be a major discovery, making eventual colonization easier than it would be if settlers had to transport water from Earth.

Kerry: too soon to send more troops to Afghanistan

WASHINGTON – With Afghanistan's election crisis deepening, Sen. John Kerry says it would be irresponsible for the U.S. to consider sending additional troops to the region at this time.

In taped remarks, Kerry said it would be misguided to have a troop buildup to achieve a mission of "good governance" when the election is not yet finished.

Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was in Kabul on Saturday.

His visit came as Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, resisted international pressure to accept fraud rulings that could force him into a runoff with his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah. Due to harsh weather, a runoff may not happen until next spring.

Kerry spoke on CNN's "State of the Union," which airs Sunday.

Suicide bomber kills 15 at mosque in northern Iraq

BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber who hid among the Sunni congregation in a northern Iraqi mosque sprayed gunfire at Muslim worshippers Friday and then blew himself up, killing at least 15 people, including the imam leading prayers, officials said.

The brazen attack is the latest against Sunni clerics who have increasingly spoken out against al-Qaida in Iraq since U.S. combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities at the end of June. The clerics and others fear militants could take advantage of the transition to step up the kind of sectarian attacks that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war two years ago.

The man who opened fire in the mosque in Tal Afar first shot the imam, Abdul-Satar Hassan, before turning his AK-47 assault rifle on worshippers, witnesses said. He detonated his explosives only after running out of ammunition.

Ninety-five people were wounded in the attack, said Ismail Majeed, a doctor at Tal Afar hospital. Hassan, a member of Iraq's largest Sunni political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, was among the 15 people killed, he said.

Sahir Jalal, 37, who was sitting on his prayer rug listening to the sermon, said Hassan had just begun speaking when a tall man in the crowd stood up.

"Then he took out a small rifle from under his jacket and started to shoot," he said.

Seconds later, the man shouted "God is Great" and detonated explosives strapped to his body, he said.

Ahmed Daoud, 42, who had arrived late for prayers and was about to unfold his prayer rug when the shooting started, said he tried to take shelter.

"Then I hear a big explosion. All the windows in the mosque shattered and then I lost consciousness," said Daoud, who was struck in the head and chest by flying glass.

Assad Masud al-Taie, 32, who was sitting near the bomber, said he heard the man recite a verse from the Muslim holy book, the Quran, just before he blew himself up.

The attack follows a string of others against Sunni clerics in the country.

Earlier this week, the cleric who leads the biggest Sunni mosque in Baghdad was wounded by a bomb attached to his car. Similar attacks killed a Sunni cleric last week in Saqlawiyah, 45 miles (75 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, and last month in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad.

While violence in Iraq has dropped dramatically since the height of the insurgency, the area in and around Mosul is considered one of the last strongholds of the Sunni-backed insurgency and the site of frequent attacks.

Tal Afar, which is primarily populated by the ethnic Turkomen minority, is only about 40 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of Mosul and has gone through cycles of stability and instability for years.

Recent attacks in and around Mosul have mainly targeted ethnic minorities, possibly indicating insurgents are seeking out vulnerable, relatively unprotected targets to maximize casualties as the strapped Iraqi army focuses its efforts on more central areas of the country.

On Aug. 7, a suicide truck bomb flattened a mosque in a northern Mosul suburb, killing at least 44 people and wounding more than 200. On July 9, two suicide bombers wearing explosives belts killed at least 38 people and injured 66 near a judge's house in Tal Afar.

These attacks and a series of suicide bombings targeting the finance and foreign ministries in Baghdad on Aug. 19 that killed about 100 people have sparked criticism of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has staked his political fortunes on improving security in the country.

Al-Maliki blasted al-Qaida and insurgent groups Friday during a service marking the end of a mourning period for those killed in the Aug. 19 bombings.

"They want to return to the past with all its pains and injuries," he said.

The prime minister is eager to show that Iraqi forces can handle security in the country as they begin to assume control from U.S. troops.

President Barack Obama has ordered all combat troops to pull out by Aug. 31, 2010, leaving up to 50,000 in advising roles. Under a security agreement between Iraq and the U.S. all American forces are to leave by the end of 2011.

Also Friday, an aide to al-Maliki said a Sunni lawmaker accused of being an insurgent ringleader has been detained in Malaysia.

Mohammed al-Dayni slipped through Iraqi custody several months ago, but was detained in Kuala Lumpur, Yassin Majeed said.

Earlier this year, al-Dayni was charged with ordering a wave of attacks that included a 2007 suicide blast in the parliament cafeteria and mortar strikes on Baghdad's Green Zone.

Al-Dayni tried to flee the country in February on a flight to Jordan, only to have the plane turned back. He slipped through Iraqi custody after arriving in Baghdad and disappeared.

An Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said Friday a letter has been sent to the Malaysian government asking for al-Dayni's extradition to Iraq.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Pakistan starts critical offensive against Taliban

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Pakistani soldiers attacked militant bases in the main al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border Saturday as the nuclear-armed country launched its most critical offensive yet against insurgents threatening its stability.

Five soldiers and 11 militants were killed as the more than 30,000 troops deployed to the region met stiff resistance in parts of South Waziristan, a possible hide-out of Osama bin Laden and a base for jihadists bent on overthrowing the U.S-backed government, attacking the West and scuttling the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan

The U.S. has pushed Pakistan to mount the offensive, which follows three unsuccessful campaigns since 2001 in the mountainous, remote region by mostly poorly equipped soldiers trained to fight conventional wars, not counterinsurgency operations.

The assault, which has been planned for several months, comes after a surge in militant attacks killed more than 175 people across Pakistan over the past two weeks. The operation is expected to last around two months and is aimed at clearing the region, then holding it, officials said.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the effort was focused on uprooting the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella group of militants led by members of the Mehsud tribe blamed for most of the attacks that have battered the country over the last three years.

About 10,000 local militants and about 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them from Central Asia, control roughly 1,275 square miles (3,310 square kilometers) of territory, or about half of South Waziristan.

Intelligence officials said the ground troops Saturday were advancing on two flanks and a northern front of a central part of South Waziristan controlled by the Mehsuds. The areas being surrounded include the insurgent bases of Ladha and Makeen, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to brief the media.

Gunbattles were taking place outside Spinkai Raghzai, Kalkala and Sharwangai areas, the officials said.

As many as 150,000 civilians — possibly more — have left in recent months after the army made clear it was planning an assault. Most are believed to be staying in rented homes or with host families, but there are perhaps as many as 350,000 still in the region. The United Nations has been stockpiling relief supplies in a town near the region, but authorities are not expecting a major refugee crisis like the one that occurred during an offensive this year in the Swat Valley, also in the northwest.

Makeen resident Ajmal Khan said that the people left in his town were terrified but could not leave their homes due to a curfew.

"We heard sounds of planes and helicopters early Saturday. Then we heard blasts," Khan told The Associated Press by telephone. "We are also hearing gunshots and it seems the army is exchanging fire with the Taliban."

Over the last three months, the Pakistani air force has been bombing targets, while the army has said it has sealed off many Taliban supply and escape routes. The military has been trying to secure the support of local tribal armies in the fight.

At least 11 suspected insurgents were killed in the jet bombings, while a roadside bomb hit a security convoy, killing one soldier and wounding three others, two local intelligence officials said. A military statement Saturday evening said four soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in exchanges in the region.

It is nearly impossible to independently verify information from the region, which has little infrastructure or government presence. Foreigners require permission to enter the tribal areas, and few Pakistani journalists from other parts risk traveling there.

Recent opinion polls show widespread public support for military action against the insurgents and there is also broad political backing, a change from a few years ago. But a long and bloody conflict — and more terrorist attacks around the country — could erode that support.

Even if the army retakes the area, the offensive by itself is unlikely to be death blow to the country's entrenched militants, who have formed networks across the country, including with groups once nurtured by the state as proxies against its arch enemy India.

The militants could escape to other parts of Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal belt or cities in its heartland. The areas being targeted by the operation don't directly border Afghanistan, which could limit the impact on U.S., Afghan and NATO troops battling a resurgent Afghan Taliban.

Pakistan waged offensives in the Bajur and Mohmand tribal regions earlier this year that it hailed as successes. But militants are still active in both and there has been little reconstruction.

South Waziristan is also much farther that those two regions from the main northwestern city of Peshawar, meaning keeping the troops supplied will be much harder.

Since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Pakistan army's three attempts to dislodge Taliban fighters from South Waziristan have ended in truces that left the Taliban in control. This time, the military has said there will be no deals, partly to avoid jeopardizing gains won earlier this year when Pakistani soldiers overpowered the Taliban in Swat.

The army's efforts in South Waziristan got a boost when a U.S. missile strike killed Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in August. The militants have since named fellow tribesman Hakimullah Mehsud as their leader, and have claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks, including a 22-hour standoff at the army's headquarters.

Taliban spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday. Communications in and around the region appeared jammed, making it difficult to reach local residents or other witnesses.

The U.S. is trying to rush in equipment for the offensive that would help with mobility, night fighting and precision bombing, a U.S. Embassy official told AP in a recent interview, speaking on condition of anonymity because the issue is politically sensitive.

In addition to night-vision devices, the Pakistan military has said it is seeking additional Cobra helicopter gunships, laser-guided munitions and intelligence equipment to monitor cell and satellite telephones.

Army planners are also considering the weather. Snows expected in the coming weeks could block major roads in South Waziristan. At the same time, the winter could work to the army's advantage by driving fighters out of their unheated mountain hide-outs.

Hague fixes Karadzic trial date

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will go on trial at The Hague on Monday 26 October, the court says.

It is the second time in a week that the trial - originally due to start on 19 October - has been put back.

Radovan Karadzic is defending himself at the tribunal

But Mr Karadzic's attempts to have the start delayed by 10 months have been rejected by the court.

Mr Karadzic is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, dating back to the Bosnian war.

They include charges related to the 1995 massacre of about 8,000 men and boys at Srebrenica.

Mr Karadzic was arrested in Serbia and brought to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia last year, after more than a decade in hiding.

Immunity rejected

The latest delay to the start date is to allow Mr Karadzic, who is defending himself, time to review new prosecution documents.

The court has called on the prosecution to present an updated indictment - or charge sheet - complete with prosecution notes, by 19 October.

The court has rejected Mr Karadzic's appeal that the case be dropped on the grounds that he was offered immunity from prosecution by former US mediator Richard Holbrooke in 1996 if he left public life.

Mr Holbrooke has repeatedly denied the claim.

The judges ruled on Tuesday: "Even if the alleged agreement were proved, it would not limit the jurisdiction of the tribunal, it would not otherwise be binding on the tribunal and it would not trigger the doctrine of abuse of process."

Italy fury at 'Taliban pay' claim

Italy has angrily denied a UK newspaper report that it paid Taliban fighters in Afghanistan to keep the peace.

Italy's defence minister said his country was planning to sue the Times newspaper over the claims.

Italy has strongly denied that it pays militants to reduce casualties

French forces took over the area unaware of the policy, leaving them unaware of the risks, the paper says. Ten soldiers were killed within weeks.

In France, opposition socialists demanded the defence minister should answer questions on the claims.

The Times' report, quoting Western military officials, says the policy was operated by Italian secret services in Afghanistan's Sarobi area, east of Kabul.

Warlords as well as Taliban commanders were paid, the paper says, with the amounts running to tens of thousands of dollars.

France took over control of the region in 2008, apparently believing it to be a low-risk area, the paper says, as only one Italian had died in the previous year.

But within a month of the French take-over, 10 soldiers were killed and 21 injured in a mountain ambush.

An unnamed Afghan army officer also told French news agency AFP that Italy had paid the Taliban to avoid casualties.

"We knew that Italian forces were paying the opposition (fighters) in Sarobi so they would not be attacked. We have information on similar agreements made in the western Herat province by Italian soldiers under Nato command there," he said.

"A lot of Nato countries with troops operating in the rural areas of Afghanistan pay the insurgents so not to be attacked."

'Garbage'

But Italy, France and Nato dismissed the claims.

"These are rumours, and it is not the first time we have heard them," said French Admiral Christophe Prazuck.

In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office also rejected the report.

"The Berlusconi government has never authorised or allowed any form of payment of sums of money in favour of members of the insurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, and is not aware of similar initiatives by the previous government," it said in a statement.

Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa described the report as "garbage" and "offensive" and said staff were preparing a lawsuit against the newspaper.

Nato spokesman General Eric Tremblay said he was "not aware" of Italy having paid off Taliban militants.

"If it does go on, it's the Afghan government (that does it) rather than international forces," he told French news agency AFP.

France's Socialist Party opposition said Defence Minister Herve Morin should appear before parliament's defence committee to provide an explanation.

Italy also denied a separate element of the Times' report, which said the US ambassador had submitted a formal complaint after discovering Italians had been buying off insurgents in the far-west Herat province.

A US spokeswoman in Rome said the embassy did not comment "on internal diplomatic conversations that may or may not have occurred".

US banks' profits beat forecasts

Two major Wall Street banks have reported better-than-expected profits between July and September.

Goldman Sachs' profits for the period were $3.19bn (£1.96bn), a four-fold increase from the same period in 2008.

It has set aside $5.35bn to cover pay and bonuses for the quarter, an average payout of $172,581 per worker.

Citigroup's profits also grew, but the much lower figure of $101m reflected the impact of the recession on its High Street banking operation.

It is highly exposed to consumer loans and has more bad debts than Goldman, which concentrates more on investment banking; trading and helping companies to merge with each other.

In the same period a year earlier, Citigroup had made a loss of $2.82bn. But its latest profit figure was significantly lower than the previous quarter, when it made $4.82bn.

Citigroup is currently 34%-owned by the US government and has written off more than $100bn of assets since the start of the credit crisis.

Shares in both banks fell in early trading because while the results were better than had been expected, they were still not as impressive as JPMorgan Chase the day before, which had sent the Dow Jones above the 10,000 mark.

ANALYSIS

By Michelle Fleury, BBC business reporter, New York

Goldman Sachs is the firm everyone loves to hate. There is a lot of anger towards the firm that took government money during the financial crisis and is now making so much cash.

Capturing the mood, a Rolling Stone magazine article published in June described Goldman as a "great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity".

The news that the bank has more set aside for pay and bonuses in nine months than in the whole of last year will only fuel that anger. The compensation pot is on track to hit $23bn.

With bonuses overshadowing performance, the challenge for Goldman is fixing its image.

'Complex business'

Goldman Sachs said that there were signs of "improving conditions and evidence of stabilisation" in the world economy.

The $5.35bn it set aside to cover pay and bonuses during the quarter brings the total for the first nine months of this year to $16.7bn.

"Goldman has always been the biggest bonus payer simply because its people make more money per person than anyone else," Ralph Silva from Tower Group told BBC News.

"The problem here is fundamental, it is a very complex business. There are very few people in the world who have the ability to do this job so the reason they get paid so much is there is just not enough of them."

Trading boost

"Although the world continues to face serious economic challenges, we are seeing improving conditions and evidence of stabilisation, even growth, across a number of sectors," said chairman and chief executive Lloyd C Blankfein.

Citigroup reported another $8bn in credit losses

The bank paid back the emergency loan it had received from the government in July this year.

It has come through the financial crisis relatively well, having been less exposed to the mortgage-related debt that crippled many of its peers.

Its currency, commodity and bond trading fared particularly well in the third quarter.

But revenue from its mergers and acquisitions operations fell sharply from the previous quarter, reflecting the continuing lack of activity.

The was reflected in Goldman's overall profit figure, which at $3.19bn, was lower than the $3.44bn that Goldman made in the previous three months.

'Challenging' environment

The two sets of results followed figures from JP Morgan Chase on Wednesday, which were dramatically better than had been expected.

The second-biggest US bank made a net income of $3.6bn, compared with $527m in the same period of 2008.

Bank of America is due to report its results on Friday while Morgan Stanley results will be out on Wednesday 21 October.

Citigroup reported another $8bn in credit losses for the three-month period and the bank's boss warned conditions would remain difficult.

"While consumer credit trends are improving in international markets, the US consumer credit environment remains challenging," said chief executive Vikram Pandit.

Pakistan rocked by fresh attacks

A series of attacks on security forces in Pakistan has killed at least 38 people, officials say.

In Lahore, militants attacked offices of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), as well as two police academies. At least 26 people died.

In the northern town of Kohat, 11 were killed in a car bomb attack on police.

Then a bomb in the city of Peshawar in the north-west killed a child. Suicide attacks in Pakistan in the past two weeks have killed more than 250 people.

The Peshawar car bomb went off outside a housing complex for government employees. A number of people were wounded.

US President Barack Obama later signed into law a $7.5bn (£4.6bn) civilian aid package for Pakistan.

Thursday's attacks come ahead of an expected military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in their South Waziristan stronghold on the Afghan border.

The worst of the violence was in Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city.

Ten gunmen, some of them teenagers, died in attacks on three police centres in the Punjab province capital.

Seven people - including police and attackers - were killed as several gunmen stormed the FIA building in Lahore.

An FIA building nearby was targeted in a deadly suicide attack in March last year.

At Lahore's Manawan police training academy, three attackers are said to have blown themselves up. Eight other people died.

The same academy was targeted in a deadly attack in March this year.

A third team scaled a wall at a police commando training centre near the airport at Bedian and reportedly began shooting and tossing grenades.

Police say the situation is now under control at all three facilities.

"They were not here to live. They were here to die," Sajjad Bhutta, a senior government official, told AP news agency. "Each time they were injured, they blew themselves up.

"They were well trained to the extent they could jump over the walls and shoot well."

Thursday's attack in Kohat saw a suicide bomber ram his car into the wall of the police station compound, police said, causing part of the building to collapse.

Finger of blame

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said: "The enemy has started a guerrilla war," reports AP.

"The whole nation should be united against these handful of terrorists, and God willing we will defeat them."

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says that although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks the finger of blame will point towards the Taliban.

Separately, a US drone aircraft fired two missiles at a house in North Waziristan, killing five Taliban militants, Pakistani officials said.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is under US pressure to flush out militants as President Obama considers sending more troops to neighbouring Afghanistan.

Lahore, the centre of Pakistan's cultural life, was long spared the brunt of unrest, but has seen a string of deadly attacks throughout 2009.

In one of the most notable incidents, in March, gunmen attacked the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team, killing six policemen.

OTHER RECENT MILITANT ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN

12 October - Security convoy attacked in Swat valley, 41 die

10 October - Militants attack Rawalpindi army HQ - 20 killed

9 Oct - At least 50 die in Peshawar suicide blast

5 Oct - Five killed in suicide bomb at UN Islamabad offices

26 Sept - 16 die in suicide car bombs in Peshawar and Bannu