U.N. to investigate Bhutto’s assassination

An independent commission will start investigating the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in July, the United Nations has announced. Bhutto, 54, was heading the opposition to then-President Pervez Musharraf when she was killed at a December campaign rally in Rawalpindi ahead of parliamentary elections.

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Ex-aide claims Taliban chief behind Bhutto assassination

A close aide to Pakistan’s Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud said he is breaking ties with him and confirmed reports that Mehsud was behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Qari Turkestan Bhitaini, a self-proclaimed right-hand man of Mehsud, said Mehsud was behind the December 27, 2007, assassination of Bhutto, Pakistan’s Express TV reported. Bhitaini said he is breaking ties with Mehsud because he blames the Taliban chief for killing scores of innocent Muslims in recent attacks in Lahore

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Blast kills cleric who denounced suicide attacks

A moderate Muslim cleric who denounced suicide attacks as forbidden by Islam was killed Friday in a suicide attack on his mosque in Lahore, authorities said. Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi was the first imam in Pakistan to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, against suicide attacks in Pakistan. On Friday, a suicide bomber approached Naeemi as he left the Jamia Naimia Mosque and religious school.

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Pakistani military, villagers battle Taliban militants

Hundreds of Pakistani villagers who have formed an anti-Taliban militia battled for the fourth day Tuesday to remove the Islamic militants from a region of northwest Pakistan. The Pakistani military is supporting the militia, or “lashkar,” in Upper Dir district on the request of local officials and tribal elders, military spokesman Maj

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Explosion rips through Pakistan hotel

A bomb exploded at a major hotel Tuesday in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least five people, the city’s district coordination officer said. At least 25 others were wounded in the suspected attack on the Pearl Continental Hotel, according to Sahib Zada Muhammad Anis Khan. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson, who has stayed at the hotel, said it is favored by diplomats and is next door to a police station and near a major army barracks

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Red Cross ‘gravely concerned’ about conditions in Swat Valley

No running water, no electricity, no fuel and little food. International Red Cross officials are “gravely concerned” about the stark situation in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, where a monthlong offensive against the Taliban has displaced more than 2 million civilians.

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