London, Feb. 18 : The unmanned Predator aircrafts which have been targeting militant hideouts along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border are being operated from an airbase in southern Pakistan, a Times report has revealed.
"Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is secretly using an airbase in southern Pakistan to launch the Predator drones that observe and attack al-Qaeda and Taleban militants on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan," the Times said.
The revelation is in complete contrast with Islamabad's claims that it had never allowed its airbases to be used by the US led forces.
London - British and Afghan troops have seized heroin and drug-making chemicals in southern Afghanistan with a street value of more than 50 million pounds (71 million dollars), Defence Secretary John Hutton said Wednesday.
Some 700 troops were involved in Operation Diesel, as the joint swoop on four drug factories in Helmand province was codenamed. It took place between February 6 and
11, Hutton revealed.
Facilities for making improvised bombs had also been disrupted.
"Operation Diesel was a clinical precision strike, supported by strong intelligence, which has had a powerful disruptive effect on known insurgent and narcotics networks in the area," Brigadier Gordon Messenger of the Royal Marines said.
Kabul - A provincial spokesman said Wednesday that Taliban militants killed two male students for greeting a group of NATO soldiers in central Afghanistan, but the rebel website said they were executed for spying.
Ahmad Khalid, 20, and Eid Gul, 19, students at a high school in Sayed Abad district of the central province of Wardak, greeted a group of NATO soldiers passing by their village in a convoy, according to Adam Khan Serat, spokesman for the provincial governor.
Washington - US President Barack Obama has signed off on sending at least 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan and an announcement on the deployment could come later Tuesday, US television reported.
This would be the first deployment of a larger buildup expected to take place in Afghanistan this year to counter a resurgent Taliban and al-Qaeda that has brought about some of the worst violence in years.
Brussels - NATO said Wednesday it was committed to keeping Afghan civilian casualties to a minimum and accused the Taliban insurgency of hiking their numbers by using them as human shields.
"Let no one doubt NATO's determination to reduce (civilian casualties) to a minimum," said James Appathurai, the alliance's spokesman.
"Let also no one doubt who is primarily responsible for civilian casualties," Appathurai said.
Kabul - The United Nations said Tuesday that Afghan civilian deaths rose by 40 per cent last year, to 2,118, the highest toll in the country since the fall of Taliban regime in late 2001.
Taliban insurgents were responsible for 55 per cent, or 1,160, of the overall death toll, while Afghan and international forces killed 828 civilians, or 39 per cent, the UN's annual report said.
The deaths of 130 other civilians, 6 per cent of the total, could not be clearly attributed to either side of the conflict.
Kabul - A provincial spokesman said Wednesday that Taliban militants killed two male students for greeting a group of NATO soldiers in central Afghanistan, but the rebel website said they were executed for spying.
Washington - US President Barack Obama has signed off on sending at least 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan and an announcement on the deployment could come later Tuesday, US television reported.
Brussels - NATO said Wednesday it was committed to keeping Afghan civilian casualties to a minimum and accused the Taliban insurgency of hiking their numbers by using them as human shields.
