Phone gives clues to Osama bin Laden in Pakistan

Phone gives clues to Osama bin Laden in Pakistan 

  The New York Times reported on a cell phone found in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan contained contacts to a militant group with ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency,

          The discovery indicated that bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, as part of his support network inside Pakistan, the newspaper said, citing the officials and others sources it did not identify.

 

The cell phone belonged to bin Laden's courier, who was killed along with the al Qaeda leader in the May 2 raid by U.S. special forces on bin Laden's compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad, the Times said.

"We cannot confirm this account," a U.S. official in Washington said when asked about the report.

In tracing calls on the cell phone, U.S. analysts determined that Harakat commanders had called Pakistani intelligence officials, the Times reported, citing the senior American officials.

Obama expected to announce major to Afghan

Obama expected to announce major Afghan drawdown

U.S. troops examine confiscated weapons and ammunition

during a raid in Sabari, in eastern Afghanistan, on Sunday.

The insurgency is still strong in that region.

Pentagon and other administration officials say about 10,000 troops will probably come home this year, a bigger number than Gen. David Petraeus wanted.

          Pentagon and other administration officials say is expected to bring home about 10,000 personnel by the end of the year that president Obama plans to announce a troop reduction in Afghanistan.

          In a speech to be delivered of media, the president is expected to declare that successes in disrupting Al Qaeda's ability to stage attacks against the United States allow him to begin reducing troop levels, said the officials, who cautioned that Obama was still "finalizing" his decision.

          In 2009 the president coupled his decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan with a pledge to begin removing some of those forces this summer. U.S. officials and outside experts familiar with recent deliberations said Obama was leaning toward withdrawing all the additional troops by the end of 2012 or early 2013. That would leave close to 70,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

          But the killing of Osama bin Laden last month in Pakistan, budget pressures and the urging of some White House aides to make faster reductions have pushed Obama toward a steeper reduction, said officials familiar with the internal debate.

          Obama is planning to give leeway to military commanders about the pacing of the withdrawals and the types of forces to be pulled out, officials said.

          Those officials contend that the Taliban will agree to a deal only if the U.S. military continues to put pressure on the militants.

          The schedule also would leave a relatively large U.S. military footprint in place until after next November's presidential election, an important consideration for Obama, who promised in his initial run for the presidency to win the war in Afghanistan.

 
          A spokesman for Petraeus declined to comment. The general has been nominated by Obama to head the CIA and will be replaced as the top general in Afghanistan by Marine Lt. Gen. John R. Allen.

Suicide bombing kills 34 in Pakistan

        34 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing in the Pakistani city of Peshawar late Saturday, the latest attack since Osama bin Laden's killing last month.

       The bombing took place near a building that houses several newspaper offices as well as apartments. The attack occurred when a large number of people were dining in the nearby restaurants.

    

A small blast preceded a big one, which senior police official Banaras Khan said police suspected was carried out by a suicide bomber.

         "After the second blast, a fire broke out. Several charred bodies were lying on the ground while some wounded people were crawling away from the site," witness Naeem Ahmed told Reuters.

       Television footage showed twisted window frames, shards of broken glasses and fallen electricity cables strewn on roads as rescue workers were loading wounded men on stretchers into ambulances.

        Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of the northwestern Khyber Pukhtunkhuwa (KP) province, told reporters that doctors had said the death toll was 34, "but it may rise as many wounded people are in critical condition."

Peshawar is the capital of KP, which borders Afghanistan.

Hospital officials said 100 people were wounded, 21 of them seriously. Several journalists and policemen were among the wounded.

       "As I arrived here, one of the wounded man cried 'please take me to hospital, I am alive'," another witness told Express television at the site of the attack.

        Since bin Laden was killed, militants have attacked a heavily guarded naval base in Karachi; killed nearly 100 people in twin suicide bombings at the headquarters of a paramilitary force in the northwest.