Pakistan Security Brief - October 14, 2009

Pakistan Security Brief - October 14, 2009�

Pakistan's foreign minister met with US Senator Kerry regarding Islamabad's concerns over the US aid bill; a dozen militants were killed in South Waziristan and Bajaur agencies during air strikes; a suspected suicide bomber was apprehended at a checkpoint on the Punjab/NWFP border; Pakistan's interior minister stated that militant attacks on a UN office in Islamabad and military headquarters in Rawalpindi had been traced back to South Waziristan.

• Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Senator John Kerry met on Wednesday in Washington to discuss the apparently controversial Kerry-Lugar aid bill that provides Pakistan with 7.5 billion dollars in financial aid over the next five years.� Qureshi's hasty trip to Washington was meant to ease Pakistan's apprehension over the bill.[1]
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• Twelve militants were killed in South Waziristan and Bajaur agencies on Tuesday in air strikes carried out by Pakistani security forces.� Among the dead are believed to be a Taliban commander, known as Faqir.� Other air strikes and helicopter missions killed ten militants in Bajaur Agency.[2]
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• A suspected suicide bomber has been arrested on the Punjab/NWFP border on Monday night.� He was apprehended with a suicide vest on at one of the sixteen checkpoints established on the boundary between the two provinces.[3]��
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• Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Tuesday that the Pakistani military forces are prepared to embark on an imminent offensive into South Waziristan.� He stated that the security forces had evidence that the militants involved in the recent attacks on the UN World Food Program and the General Headquarters originated from this area.[4]

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