Islamabad, Dec. 4 : Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is struggling to find appropriate people to run his secretariat.

According to a Daily Times report, Gilani is on the lookout for two suitable officials to fill the posts of principal and press secretaries lying vacant in his secretariat.

According to the paper, Gilani’s quest for reliable aides has been complicated by the shocking fall of the bureaucracy over the last eight years due to the misuse of power by National Accountability Bureau hounds.

Lahore, Dec. 4 : The Deccan Mujahideen group that claimed responsibility for last week’s terror attacks in Mumbai, has now threatened to attack the New Delhi, Banglore and Chennai airports between December 3 and 7.

According to a Daily Times report, the threat was given through an e-mail sent from Saudi Arabia and received by Indra Gandhi Airport officials.

Security at all the Indian airports was put on high alert after the e-mail.

Earlier, on November 26, the little known group had claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks that left almost 200 people dead.

Islamabad, Dec. 4 : The Chairman of the U. S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, has called on the Pakistan Government to crackdown on all extremist elements residing within its territory.

Admiral Mullen’s missive came after his meetings with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zadari, National Security Adviser Mahmud Durrani, the Chairman of the Pakistan Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Tariq Majid, the army chief, General Asfaq Parvez Kayani and the ISI chief, Lt. General Shuja Pasha to discuss the Mumbai terror attacks.

According to the Daily Times and The News, Admiral Mullen urged Pakistan to investigate all possible links between the Mumbai attacks and Pakistani groups and to broaden its campaign against militants.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 3  -- U. S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen pressed Pakistani officials Wednesday to explore all links between the Mumbai attacks and groups based in Pakistan.

Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with senior Pakistani officials as U. S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Indian leaders to discuss the bloody assault on the Indian financial and entertainment hub last week, the Defense Department said in a news release.

The coordinated attacks killed 170 people. India blames the attacks on militants from Pakistan.

Mullen met with Pakistani civil and military leaders, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zadari, and National Security Adviser Mahdue Durrani, the U. S. Embassy in Islamabad said.

Washington  - A US panel on weapons of mass destruction got first-hand experience of the threat of terrorism when they tried to visit Pakistan in September as part of their preparation for a report released this week.

As they were making a connecting flight in Dubai on their way to Islamabad on September 20, US officials called them to stop the journey.

"The State Department said, 'We've got good news and bad news for you. The good news is you're not in your hotel. The bad news is your hotel is gone'," recalled former congressman Timothy Roemer, a member of the congressional-chartered Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation and Terrorism, on Wednesday.

Peshawar, Dec 3 : Pakistani security forces have taken control of another important town in the troubled Bajaur tribal region while 21 people, including 14 militants, were killed in an air strike in the adjacent Mohmand tribal region on Wednesday, officials said.

Officials and local people said that troops backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers’ secured Nawagai town, some 30 kilometers northwest of Khar near the Afghan border.

Local people welcomed the troops and hoisted white flags on their rooftops, Dawn reported.