Market bombs kill two, injure 70, in Pakistan

Back-to-back explosions shook two markets in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Thursday evening, killing two civilians and wounding 70 others, an official from the deputy police superintendent’s office said. Another official, Sahib Zada Muhammad Anis Khan, the district coordination officer for Peshawar District, told CNN the blasts took place in the center of the city at adjacent markets: Qissa Khawani Bazaar and Kabari Bazaar.

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Pakistan: Taliban near defeat in major city

The Pakistani military said Wednesday it hopes to clear Taliban militants from Mingora, a major Swat Valley city, in the next two to three days. “Security forces have made considerable progress in Mingora town,” the military said in its daily war roundup, making reference to the largest city in the Swat Valley. “House to house search is in progress in most of the areas.” The military said Saturday its push to clear militants from Mingora is the “most important phase” of its offensive against the Taliban.

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Taliban seek return to peace deal in Pakistan

The Pakistani Taliban says it wants to return to a peace deal that recently collapsed, sparking an ongoing massive military operation, a spokesman said Tuesday. Taliban militants in Swat Valley have announced that they are willing to disarm if the government allows sharia, or Islamic law, to be implemented in the region, a spokesman for Taliban mediator Sufi Mohammed said.

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Refugees survive on food ‘cows won’t eat’

It’s an exodus on an almost biblical scale. And it has produced a mosaic of plastic and canvas that is now home to more than 93,000 people — with more arriving each day. This is Jalozai refugee camp near Peshawar, suddenly almost a city in its own right as thousands flee the violence raging between the Pakistani army and Taliban fighters

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Iran’s Spending Spree in Afghanistan

Some locals jokingly call Herat the “Dubai of Afghanistan.” The nickname is a stretch, but the mini-boom taking place in this commercial capital is borne out by 24-hour electricity and pothole-free streets where people wander without fear of the random violence that afflicts other urban centers in the country. Who gets the credit? Much of it goes to Iran, which lies less than a hundred miles to the west and is moving closer.

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The Plot to Bomb Riverdale: How It Unraveled

The arrest of four alleged terrorism plotters in the Riverdale section of New York City was the culmination of a painstaking 10-month FBI investigation. Each of the four men is charged with one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the U.S., which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, and one count of conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison

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