Peshawar (Pakistan), Mar 4 : The US has started launching unmanned aircraft attacks on Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in order to nuetralise a Taliban spring offensive against US forces in Afghanistan.

Sarfaraz Khan, a University of Peshawar professor, supported the American aggressiveness saying, "In order to stop unifying Taliban groups from launching massive attacks against NATO and in particular newly arriving U. S. troops in Afghanistan, such attacks have become indispensable on Americans'' part."

Peshawar, Mar 4: The Taliban in Pakistan have now surfaced in Balochistan by organising themselves under the banner of Tehrik-e-Taliban Balochistan.

Engineer Asad, claiming to be its spokesman, said in a phone call from an undisclosed location in Balochistan that their organisation had no link with the Baitullah Mahsud-led Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

It wasn’t possible to verify the claim made by Engineer Asad or to know more about his identity, The News reported.

The man, who spoke Pashto in an accent peculiar to Balochistan, explained that the members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Balochistan (TTB) were all Pakistanis.

Peshawar, Mar 2: Maulana Sufi Muhammad, the chief of a banned group who is instrumental in propagating peace in troubled Swat Valley, has asked the government to set up Islamic courts in Malakand, a division in northwestern Pakistan by March 15.

Speaking at a news conference in Mingora on Sunday, the main city in the Malakand division, Muhammad urged the government and Taliban fighters to free each other's prisoners by March 15.

A tribal elder has disclosed that three top Taliban groups in Pakistan have joined hands to the counter the offensive of the United States.

The Daily Times quoted the chief of the Taliban in the Wana region, Maulvi Nazir as telling a delegation of Ahmedzai Wazir elders that the alliance between the three factions was targeted at fighting the US forces together.

Peshawar, Feb 23: Abu Nasar Al-Haweshi from Yemen has been nominated as al-Qaeda's leader for the Gulf Region.

Belonging to Yemen, Abu Nasar Al-Haweshi, also known as Abu Baseer, is active in al-Qaeda since long.

The Nation quoted highly placed reliable sources as saying that Abu Nasar's nomination aimed at filling the office, which had fallen vacant after the death of Abu Zarqavi in Iraq in 2006.

According to sources, there was no replacement of Zarqavi since his death. Now both Osama bin Laden and Aymaan Al Zawahiri agreed on assigning the task to Abu Nasar Al Haweshi.

Peshawar, Feb. 22: The Tehrik-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) government have reportedly reached an accord for a permanent ceasefire in the Swat Valley.

The NWFP government has announced re-opening of all school and educational institutions, and has asked all displaced people to return to the valley after Maulana Fazlullah agreed to accept the Nizam-e-Adl Regulations.

Confirming the report, Commissioner of the Malakand Division, Syed Muhammad Javed said: "Yes, both sides will observe a permanent ceasefire."