Foreign LeT commander Mehmood Bhai Martyred in Kashmir encounter

A top foreign commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit was killed in a gunfight between security forces and guerrillas in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town on Monday.

"One foreign militant commander identified as Mehmood Bhai of the LeT has been killed in the Krankshevan (Sopore) encounter that started yesterday (Sunday) evening," a senior police officer told IANS here.

The officer said a local militant is still holed up inside the house from where they fired at the security forces Sunday evening when police, counter insurgency Rashtriya Rifles and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force jointly started an operation against them.

This followed intelligence reports that two to three guerrillas were hiding inside a house in Krankshevan colony of Sopore town in Baramulla district, 54 km from Srinagar.

A senior police official said acting on a specific information about the presence of 2-3 militants at Krankshavan in Sopore, the joint team of army and Kashmir Police cordoned off the whole area at around 5:15 pm on Sunday.

"Following specific intelligence inputs about the presence of a group of militants in Krankshavan colony of Sopore, security forces comprising local police, Rashtriya Rifles and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers surrounded the area in the evening but came under fire," a senior police officer said.

This triggered the gunfight which is still on.

"The security forces are carrying out the operations against the militants with extreme caution to ensure that civilian life and property is not damaged in the area," he added.

According to the police official, two to three guerrillas of the banned Pakistan-based outfit are believed to be hiding in the cordoned area.

One house got also damaged by IED blast.

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ISIS Militants Seize Three Towns in Iraq, Border Crossing

BAGHDAD — Sunni insurgents led by an al-Qaida breakaway group expanded their offensive in a volatile western province on Saturday, capturing three strategic towns and the first border crossing with Syria to fall on the Iraqi side.

It's the latest blow against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is fighting for his political life even as forces beyond his control are pushing the country toward a sectarian showdown.

In a reflection of the bitter divide, thousands of heavily armed Shiite militiamen — eager to take on the Sunni insurgents — marched through Iraqi cities in military-style parades on streets where many of them battled U.S. forces a half decade ago.

The towns of Qaim, Rawah and Anah are the first territory seized in predominantly Sunni Anbar province, west of Baghdad, since fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group overran the city of Fallujah and parts of the provincial capital of Ramadi earlier this year.

The capture of Rawah on the Euphrates River and the nearby town of Anah appeared to be part of march toward a key dam in the city of Haditha, which was built in 1986 and has a hydraulic power station that produces some 1,000 megawatts. Destruction of the dam would adversely impact the country's electrical grid and cause major flooding.

Iraqi military officials said more than 2,000 troops were quickly dispatched to the site of the dam to protect it against a possible attack by the Sunni militants. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The Islamic State's Sunni militants have carved out a large fiefdom along the Iraqi-Syrian border and have long traveled back and forth with ease, but control over crossings like that one in Qaim allows them to more easily move weapons and heavy equipment to different battlefields. Syrian rebels already have seized the facilities on the Syrian side of the border and several other posts in areas under their control.

Police and army officials said Saturday that the Sunni insurgents seized Qaim and its crossing, about 200 miles west of Baghdad, after killing some 30 Iraqi troops in daylong clashes Friday.

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Somali-Americans leave homes, friends in Minnesota to fight alongside ISIS jihadis

As many as 15 Somali-American men have left their homes in Minnesota in recent months to travel to the Middle East and join up with ISIS, the jihadist army at war with Syria and Iraq, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

The fighters appear to have made the decision to go fight with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/Levant while the terror group was fighting to overthrow Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, but some may now be in Iraq, where the marauding group is seeking to topple Baghdad.

"A Muslim has to stand up for [what's] right," Abdirahmaan Muhumed told MPR News through a series of Facebook messages dating back to the beginning of the year. "I give up this worldly life for Allah."

ISIS, an Iraq-based, Al Qaeda-linked terror group, poured into Syria as rebels known as the Free Syrian Army fought to overthrow Assad. But ISIS’s ferocious brutality, especially toward Christians, quickly caused a rift with the Syrian rebels. Now, the group appears bent on establishing an Islalamic caliphate, or nation under strict Islamic law, spanning the two nations.

Among Minnesota’s thriving Somali community, Muhumed's transformation from ordinary life in Minneapolis to Middle East jihadist is evidence of a strong recruitment and radicalization effort.

“Most of [those who left] don't have the resources to even buy a ticket to go to Chicago. So that means there is some influential individuals who are taking advantage of our youth," Mohamud Noor, executive director of the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota, told MPR. "So it's up to us to defend ourselves. This is not only a fight for our youth. It is a fight for our future."

It is against the law for Americans to independently travel overseas to fight in civil wars or armed conflicts against foreign governments. FoxNews.com has written about Americans who went to join the war in Syria in the past, including Eric Harroun, a onetime U.S. Army soldier from Arizona.

After FoxNews.com interviewed Harroun from the battlefield, he traveled back to the U.S., where he was arrested in June 2013. He pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was released, then died of an apparent overdose in April.

FBI officials in Minneapolis told MPR News that as many as 15 Somali-Americans left for Syria in recent months, and that the agency is investigating.

Somali-Americans left Minnesota in previous years to fight in their homeland, but friends and family told MPR they don’t understand why the men would go to a place to which they have no connection.

"It was really hard for me to believe because the guy seemed he was busy with his own life, trying to make it," Abdinasir Mohamed, a friend of Muhumed, told MPR. "And [for] him to leave his family and kids, and just go to the other side of the world, that was really surprising to me. I've not really expected him to do that type of move."

Muhumed said in Facebook messages that ISIS is "trying to bring back the khilaafa," a reference to an Islamic empire. He also said "Allah loves those who fight for his cause."

The report also cites the case of Abdi Mohamud Nur, a 20-year-old Somali man from Minneapolis. Nur's sister, Ifrah, told Voice of America on June 1 that her brother also went to Syria to fight with ISIS.

FBI investigators aim to discover who is recruiting the Minnesota men, said Kyle Loven, an FBI spokesman in Minneapolis.

"It is something that we have seen in this division, and it is something that we are actively working with the Somali community here in Minnesota to try to prevent," Loven said.

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White House vows faster deportation of illegal immigrants, will open new detention center

June 18, 2014: A toddler sits on the floor with other detainees at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Brownsville,Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)

The Obama administration has announced that it will work to process and deport illegal immigrants quicker, and that a new detention center for families crossing the border is to be opened.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the facility, located on the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center's Artesia, N.M., campus, will hold families while their deportation proceedings unfold

The Homeland Security Department said the facility is one of several DHS is considering to hold and expedite the deportation of the mounting number of adults with children illegally crossing the southwest border.

"We will house them in facilities that are humane and compliant with legal requirements," Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, told The Wall Street Journal. In 2009, the government reportedly shut down the main family detention center amid complaints about conditions there.

Currently, the government only has about 100 beds to house families with children. This fiscal year, some 39,000 people traveling as families have been apprehended, but the vast majority have been released, with many receiving ankle bracelets to monitor movement.

The Obama administration’s plan will do nothing to address another piece of the Central American surge—children traveling to the U.S. alone, a group that is treated differently under U.S. law.

The administration’s announcement brought both praise and criticism from politicians across the political spectrum.

"I am pleased to see that the administration is finally taking some steps to address the crisis caused by the flood of undocumented immigrants and unaccompanied children from Central America arriving at the Texas-Mexico border," said Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

But other Democrats and immigrant advocates said it was wrong to put children into jail while awaiting their deportation hearing.

"I don't think small children should be locked up in jail. There is consensus that we must quickly address this refugee and humanitarian crisis, but to say that a child who is apprehended at the border with their parent must remain locked up throughout their judicial proceeding is simply a step too far," said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

And Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, condemned the plan as "nothing but smoke and mirrors" because many border crossers can game the law to find ways to stay.

About 52,000 children traveling by themselves have been apprehended since the fiscal year began last October. U.S. law requires that these children be turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services, which works to find family or friends in the U.S. until their deportation cases are processed.

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Facebook tracks users across the internet, following Google's footsteps

Facebook users beware: The company has officially declared that it will be tracking your online consumption and behaviour on Facebook, and off Facebook too. Like Google, Facebook wants to leverage its understanding of your user behaviour to serve you more targeted ads.

Facebook has been using your likes and posts on Facebook to target ads to you already. Now, though, Facebook will track you across any website you visit, as long as the site has a 'like' button, a Facebook login, or any Facebook code. And Facebook will track your reading habits, even if you don't login via Facebook or click on 'like' button on the site.

READ ALSO: Technology that tells how your private data is being used online

You may not be aware of this, but Facebook has managed this via an automatic-opt-in feature — albeit one which you can opt out of. However, activists and analysts point out that companies like Facebook, Google etc should only be allowed to use your data by turning it on through your explicit permission (manual opt-in instead of automatic opt-in) — and not by having to turn it off through an opt-out.



For advertisers, Facebook is aiming to build a bank of data to help target advertising better. The raw data is processed by big data brokers like Acxiom and Datalogix to develop profiles of users, which are then made available to advertisers.

Suppose you regularly surf sites that discuss fashion and accessories. You will be profiled as a fashion geek, and advertisers interested in fashion geeks will be able to serve ads to you on Facebook.

This can be big business for Facebook. Google earned as much as $13 billion off of data-based targeting. Facebook is looking to take a larger piece of this growing market.

For consumers, this is the hidden cost of Facebook: your data. Facebook doesn't charge users because it makes money by selling access to demographics of users. This often results in advertising that seems to "follow you around," which can feel intrusive.

The major issue is that users are not asked if they consent to being tracked, ie, there is an automatic opt-in process, instead of this being a manual opt-in process where users can choose to allow this to happen or not. Instead, all that Facebook gives users, is the option to 'opt-out' —but the problem is that experts know that less than 2% of users actively go through the opt-out process.

Meanwhile, when we asked users whether they would be okay with Facebook tracking their consumption habits, over 40% of respondents said they would not want to be tracked.

And world over, post the revelations that intelligence agencies have had access to electronic communications and data stored by the internet giants, consumers have begun seeking refuge for privacy. The growth of recent internet startups, such as Snapchat and Whisper, highlight the desire for anonymity.

READ ALSO: Emotions sweep across Facebook networks, study finds

Today, Google and Facebook likely know more about users than even the government. There are over 100 million users on Facebook and Google in India today, and with mobile penetration growing in India faster than any other market in the world, that number is going to grow quickly.

Online publishers, for their part, have also been given an ultimatum: either allow Facebook to take your data, or risk losing significant traffic by not enabling users to share content on Facebook and reach more friends.

Initially, Facebook had offered its 'share' tools to publishers as a healthy exchange. Facebook could populate its site with relevant content, and Facebook would help publishers gain traffic. However, Facebook is now turning its 'like' button into a Trojan horse, where publishers give their data to Facebook, or lose valuable traffic.



Regulators worldwide are starting to take action.

The European Commission for the Digital Agenda is overseeing new rules that will govern privacy policies, and is evaluating a mandatory opt-in requirement for consumers to be tracked.

Other countries are working on methods so as not to allow internet companies to track users' behaviour on third party sites and sell/monetize/use that data for advertisement targeting, without users opt-in consent (not opt-out, as it currently stands). Users should agree to let Facebook, Google etc use their data by turning this on, not by having to turn it off.

India, too, requires a solution where internet companies receive an 'opt-in' from consumers, where they explicitly allow companies to use their data, and disallow the buying, selling, renting, or using of third party data (data from other sources than the site itself). Experts agree that this is critical to protecting consumers and thwart an economy built on selling users private data.

Facebook has offered a way for consumers to opt-out, similar to Google's options for opting out. But very few know about this and fewer still use it.

How to stop Facebook and Google from tracking you:

Follow these short steps below to stop Facebook and Google from tracking you around the web. Of course, this doesn't stop them from following what you do on their sites, but it stops them from tracking you across the internet.

1. Open the website http://www.aboutads.info/choices/

2. The tool will list all companies that are tracking you to serve ads

3. Select the ones you want to stop (or select all)

4. Click "Submit my choices"

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India vows action, warns hoarders after May inflation spike

India is committed to easing bottlenecks that have caused inflation to spike, Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley said, blaming energy costs and "speculative hoarding" for a rise in wholesale prices that contributed to an investor selloff on Monday.

The rupee sank below 60 rupees to the dollar and government bonds had their biggest single-day fall in a month on Monday as higher-than-expected May inflation compounded worries about the impact of violence in Iraq on the price of oil, which India imports.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected amid widespread anger about rising prices and has made tackling inflation his top priority. Forecasts of weak monsoon rains that irrigate much of India's food production have added to inflation fears, with volatile vegetable prices rising by double digits.

"The rise in prices of food articles can also be attributed to withholding of stocks on account of apprehension of a weak monsoon," Jaitley said in a post on Facebook late on Monday.

"The State Government(s) should take effective steps to ensure that speculative hoarding is discouraged," he said.

The rupee sank to 60.23 rupees a dollar, its lowest level since May 6, and benchmark 10-year bond yields closed up 5 basis points at 8.65 percent after the government issued May wholesale inflation data on Monday. The annual pace was 6.01 percent, compared with 5.2 percent in April.

"The government is watching the movement of rupee closely," Jaitley said. "The slight instability of rupee is essentially because of Iraq oil shocks and global fear of oil price rise."

Jaitley is due to deliver his first budget in July and must balance a commitment to fiscal discipline with the government's aim of rapidly reviving economic growth.

The government "is committed to take measures which will positively impact the GDP and result in higher growth than expected. I am hopeful that the inflation which is moving upwards now would eventually come down," he said.

At the weekend, Modi warned that "bitter medicine" was needed to put India's economy back on track, without giving details.

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Al-Qaeda Video Claims Afghan Jihadists are En Route to Free Kashmir, Calls Muslims for Support

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15-Jun-2014

In a recent video, Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda, calling on Kashmiris and Muslims for jihad, stated that jihadis from Afghanistan are on their way to Kashmir to wage a war and establish a Muslim state.

The new video, believed to have been released on Friday, is in Urdu and was uploaded by Al-Qaeda's media front Al-Sahab, reported The Guardian.

The video titled 'The war should continue: A message for Kashmir's Muslims' contains statements by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Maulana Asim Umar. The video features montages of demonstrations in Jammu and Kashmir, and the silhouette of an armed man juxtaposed against the famous Dal Lake.

Umar urges Muslims in both India and Pakistan to join the global jihadi movement to re-establish an Islamic caliphate.

"Muslims the world over have picked up arms and are marching in the field of jihad. Even those who were opposed to jihad now view democracy with despondency and have chosen the path of fighting," Umar says in the video.

Confirming the worst fears of India, the TTP leader stressed that several jihadists from Afghanistan are on their way to Kashmir.

"From the land of Afghanistan, a caravan is heading towards India. Not on the basis of someone's directive. Not on the basis of some governmental policy. But simply on the basis of abiding by God's command," he said.

Umar also claimed that through jihad, Muslims will be able to take over Delhi and will host the 'flag of Islam'. The TTP leader also blamed Pakistan for making Kashmir 'an old memorial', instead of an active battle ground.

There has been much discomfort in Delhi, and especially in the Indian security establishment, since the US and Nato started withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan. New Delhi, for long, has been concerned that the move will boost extremists fighting there to target Kashmir.

And that fear has now come true as the video confirms that a "caravan" of "heroic martyrs" are en route from Afghanistan to "liberate Kashmir".

The video has emerged at a time when the new leadership under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bringing in its agenda for the disputed state.

In a recent move, the Modi government announced that it would focus on the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits and curbing cross-border infiltration. For the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, who fled the state during the height of insurgency, the government has announced a package of ₹20 lakh to each family.

The UPA government is also expected to bring in reforms in the state, by way of getting rid of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir - a move which is much opposed by the local politicians.

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Three killed, 75 injured, houses set ablaze in Sri Lanka ethnic clashes

16-Jun-2014 

At least three Muslims were killed and 75 people seriously injured in violence between Buddhists and Muslims in southern Sri Lankan coastal towns best known as tourist draws, with Muslim homes set ablaze, officials and residents said on Monday.

There has been increasing violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka since 2012, mirroring events in Myanmar, which has seen a surge of attacks by members of the majority Buddhist community against Muslims.

Clashes erupted on Sunday in Aluthgama and Beruwela, two Muslim-majority towns on the Sinhalese-dominated southern coast, during a protest march led by the hardline Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or "Buddhist power force".

"I just can't understand a government which prevents even a trade union or student protesters going to protest marches ... allowing the BBS to conduct the meeting," Rauf Hakeem, justice minister and the leader of the country's largest Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, told Reuters.

He said Muslims in the area had repeatedly requested authorities to provide them with security.

Many independent analysts say well-coordinated violence against Muslims and Christians appears to have tacit state backing as those involved in previous attacks have yet to be punished. The government denies any collusion.

The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacked Muslim villages in the northeast during the 1983-2009 civil war. More than 140 people were killed in a massacre of Muslims in 1990 blamed on the Tigers, which the group denied.

WARNING TO MUSLIMS

A Reuters team in Aluthgama and Beruwela witnessed an uneasy calm and a heavy police presence, with Muslims worried for their safety, many of them sitting on the road in front of their gutted houses.

Police urged people to stay inside their homes. "A curfew is imposed for your own safety. Do not come out of your houses," they said through loudspeakers.

Reuters reporters counted 16 houses gutted by fire.

"The curfew is only for Muslims, not for the rioters," said Fathima Fazniya, a 65-year-old retired teacher. "They (the rioters) came in ... lorries behind the police and looted all our houses. Then they torched my house. They are well organised."

Many residents said the police directly and indirectly helped the BBS organisation. Police rejected the claim.

BSS WARNS MUSLIMS

The BBS has said its members came under attack when they were protesting peacefully against an assault on a Buddhist monk by a Muslim youth three days earlier.

Before the clash, the general secretary of the BBS, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasaara, warned Muslims against attacking Sinhalese, the majority of whom are Buddhist. "We still have Sinhala police in this country, still we have a Sinhala military. From today, if any Muslim... mishandles any Sinhalese, that will be the end of them," he said at a public rally that was captured on video and downloaded on YouTube.

In a statement on Monday, Gnanasaara said the BBS had not been involved in the clashes and blamed them on "an extreme Muslim group" that had picked a fight with the Sinhalese.

The U.S. Embassy in Colombo condemned the violence and urged the government to ensure that order is preserved and that citizens, places of worship and property are protected.

Police were investigating a shooting in a nearby Welipitiya mosque in the early hours of Monday despite the police curfew. An elite police force official who declined to be identified told Reuters that a group travelling in a vehicle shot at Muslims who tried to prevent them from attacking the mosque. Three were killed and seven sustained gunshot injuries. Residents were unable to communicate with each other due to the curfew and congestion of mobile phone networks.

"My son-in-law, Mohamed Shiraz, was shot in the head after a battle that lasted more than two hours," Mohamed Hassan told Reuters, looking across at his daughter, Shiraz's wife.

"Police did not come at all during this fight and we hear now that he is dead. But I can't either see him or confirm this."

Mohamed Faiser, a 45-year-old shop owner, said police broke into his shop and an adjoining mosque. Another group followed and torched both buildings.

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Gunmen kill at least 50 in Kenya during World Cup TV screening

16-Jun-2014

(Reuters) - At least 50 people were killed when gunmen in two minibuses sped into a town on Kenya's coast, shooting soccer fans watching a World Cup match in a television hall and targeting two hotels, a police post and a bank, officials and witnesses said on Monday. Police said Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group was most likely to blame for Sunday night's assault on the town of Mpeketoni, which lies on the Indian Ocean coastline that runs north from Kenya's main port of Mombasa to the Somali border.

Kenya's interior minister referred to the attackers as "bandits" and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assault, the latest in a spate of gun and bomb attacks in recent months that have hurt the struggling tourist industry.

Kenya, which has blamed al Shabaab for previous attacks, had said it would be on alert during the World Cup to ensure public showings of matches were kept safe.

"The attackers were so many and were all armed with guns. They entered the video hall where we were watching a World Cup match and shot indiscriminately at us," Meshack Kimani told Reuters by telephone. "They targeted only men but I was lucky. I escaped by hiding behind the door."

The attack could heighten existing worries in other African nations such as Nigeria, which is battling the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency, that bars and other venues drawing crowds by hosting World Cup match screenings could become targets.

Sunday's assault is the worst in Kenya since last September when al Shabaab gunmen attacked Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall, leaving 67 people dead.

After Westgate, Al Shabaab warned of more attacks, saying they were determined to drive Kenyan troops out of Somalia. Kenya, whose soldiers are deployed as part of an African peacekeeping force battling militants, says it won't pull out.

The gunmen raced into Mpeketoni in two minibuses, the kind used as public taxis in Kenya, and attacked their targets with guns and at least one explosive device. The government said they also raided the nearby settlement of Kibaoni.

Witnesses said there were about 30 gunmen. A police officer said all the victims were men with no women and children killed.

"After they attacked the area, they went round the town in the vehicles shooting in the air and chanting slogans in the Somali language," said 28-year-old Issah Birido, who survived the Mpeketoni attack by climbing a tree, hidden by the darkness.

FLEEING TO SAFETY

He said two cousins were killed and their homes set on fire. Some 20 buildings were gutted and the charred wreckage of more than 20 vehicles littered the streets, witnesses said.

Kenya has a large number of citizens of Somali origin, so the fact that the attackers spoke Somali does not confirm an al Shabaab link. Tribes of Somali origin and other ethnic groups have in the past fought over land and other issues, though that has mostly occurred in Kenya's lawless northern border area.

Kenya Red Cross regional director for the coastal area, Muiruri Kinyanjui, said the death toll was at least 50, but said it could rise because many residents were still unaccounted for, while others had suffered serious injuries.

Many people fled to nearby forests for safety.

Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku told a news conference the security forces would find the perpetrators, whom he called "bandits" and "criminals", making no reference to al Shabaab.

In an apparent swipe at political opponents, he said the government was cautioning "political leaders ... to desist from destructive politics and ethnic profiling that may be responsible for this heinous act". He did not elaborate.

Police said no arrests had yet been made and said an investigation was underway to identify the perpetrators.

"Right now it is still premature to say who is behind the attack until investigations are done, but the initial suspicion is al Shabaab," Mwenda Njoka, spokesman for Kenya's internal security, told a Kenyan television channel.

The government agency, Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre, said the attack had been blamed on al Shabaab.

Al Shabaab bombed crowds watching World Cup soccer matches on television in the Ugandan capital Kampala in 2010, killing 77 people. Uganda also has troops in Somalia.

There were no immediate reports of foreign visitors being hurt in the attack on Mpeketoni, which is not a major holiday destination. But the assault could still further damage the tourist industry as it lies just 30 km (20 miles) from Lamu, a historic Arab trading port that is a popular attraction.

Kenyan hotels say bookings have dropped sharply because of recent attacks and warnings by Western governments about travel to Kenya. Some hotels on the coast say they face closure, while some hoteliers inland who offer safari trips say reservations are down by 30 percent or more.

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Taliban threatens to burn palaces in Islamabad, Lahore

MIRANSHAH: The Pakistani Taliban on Monday warned foreign firms to leave the country and vowed retaliatory strikes against the government after tanks, ground troops and jets were deployed in a long-awaited offensive in a troubled tribal district.

The warning came as Pakistan´s major cities braced for revenge attacks by ramping up security at key installations and ordering soldiers to patrol the streets, while hospitals in the northwest prepared for incoming casualties.

The offensive on North Waziristan, a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, was launched a week after a brazen insurgent attack on Pakistan´s main airport in Karachi which left dozens dead and marked the end of a troubled peace process.

Pakistan´s Western allies, particularly the United States, have long demanded an operation in the mountainous territory to flush out groups like the Haqqani network which use the area to target NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan. But authorities had held back from a final push -- possibly fearful of angering pro-Pakistan warlords and of opening too many fronts in their decade-long battle against homegrown Islamist insurgents.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) main spokesman Shahidullah Shahid warned foreign countries to stop doing business with the government and supporting their "apostate army". "We warn all foreign investors, airlines and multinational corporations that they should immediately suspend their ongoing matters with Pakistan and prepare to leave Pakistan, otherwise they will be responsible for their own loss," he said in a statement.

"We hold Nawaz Sharif´s government and the Punjabi establishment responsible for the loss of tribal Muslims´ life and property as a result of this operation," he added, vowing to "burn your palaces" in Islamabad and Lahore. The warning came as major cities beefed up their security, with troops seen patrolling the streets of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

"The security of the capital was already on alert, but a new alert has been issued," an Islamabad police spokesman told AFP. Police in Pakistan´s economic hub Karachi have declared a "red alert" and cancelled leave for all 27,000 personnel, spokesman Atiq Shaikh told AFP. And in northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province which borders the tribal zone, the government has declared a state of emergency in all hospitals and asked them to prepare for incoming casualties, provincial health minister Shahram Khan Tarakai said in a statement.

Pakistani air force jets have been pounding suspected militant hideouts in the region since Sunday and have been joined by tanks and infantry engaging in heavy artillery strikes. An AFP reporter in the region´s main town of Miranshah said tanks were now occupying the bazaar as troops fire intermittently in the air to warn people not to leave their homes.

More than 2,000 troops could be seen at new posts set up in the mountains. Pakistan already had troops stationed in the tribal district, but these were reinforced in the days leading up to the offensive.

The death toll from the offensive so far stands at 177, according to the military, the majority through air strikes but some through sniper fire. The figures cannot be verified independently. In the town of Bannu 10 kilometres (6 miles) east of North Wazirstan, hundreds of military trucks with machine guns installed on top were on their way toward the fighting zone, as were oil tankers and a military field hospital.

At the Kashoo Bridge area, some 25 kilometres northeast of Bannu, tractors were busy levelling the ground to set up a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs).

Arshad Khan, Director General Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) said: "We have made arrangements to accomodate IDPs in two camps. "Some 62,000 people have fled the region so far into other parts of Pakistan according to official data, with "hundreds of thousands" eventually expected.

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