Suicide attackers target two police stations in Pak

A militant hideout in the Shawal mountains was targeted after security forces received a tip off that militants were hiding in the area,the statement said.

The attacks on the police stations in Balakot and Mansehra towns in North West Frontier Province occurred within minutes of each other,officials said.

A suicide bomber blew himself at the police station in Balakot when guards prevented him from entering the building. Police station chief Khalil Khan was killed and five others,including policemen and passers-by,were injured,police said.

In nearby Mansehra town,a group of militants lobbed a grenade and fired at a police station. This triggered a shootout in which one of the militants was killed. Police said the slain militant was a suicide bomber.

Four police personnel,including a woman constable,were injured in the attack.

Footage on television showed armed policemen running through the streets of Mansehra,searching for militants who reportedly fled after the attack. PTI

US warns of Qaeda threat in Central Asia

DUSHANBE: Al-Qaeda aims to infiltrate Central Asia to train militants and turn the ex-Soviet region into a zone of unrest,US special envoy Richard C Holbrooke said on Saturday. Holbrooke is on a blitz tour of the five “stans” of Central Asia.

“I think the real threat in this region is less from the Taliban but from al Qaeda,which trains international terrorists,” he said in Tajikistan.

“This is an issue of common concern to the United States and to all the countries of this region. And by all the countries I definitely include Pakistan and China and India.”

Reuters