Afghan Authorities Detain, "Parade" Young Suicide Bomber Recruits
09 May 2011
Afghan authorities paraded four young Afghan boys on Saturday who they said had been recruited as suicide bombers from homes in neighboring Pakistan and detained as they came back across the border on a mission to attack foreign troops. The four boys, all under 13, giggled and smiled shyly at one another as they were led on to a stage before television cameras to tell how they were coerced by insurgent leaders into becoming unwitting suicide attackers. "We...
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US Issues Warning amid New Violence Following Major Taliban Attack on Kandahar
09 May 2011
U.S. officials in Kabul said on Monday the movements of staff in parts of Afghanistan's volatile south were being restricted, warning of more attacks after a two-day siege came to a bloody end and insurgents killed at least 11 people in other attacks. [...] Afghan troops, aided by NATO-led forces, on Monday mopped up the remnants of a major assault launched by the Taliban in Kandahar city, the main city in the south, where the governor's compound...
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Taliban Release Video of Kidnapped Canadian, Claim He Is a Spy
09 May 2011
A Toronto man held in captivity by the Taliban says in a video released Sunday by the militant group that he went to Afghanistan to visit historical sites. Colin Rutherford, 26, says he was interested in "history and historical sites, old buildings, shrines" when he flew to Kabul in October. He spent a few days in the capital, then headed to the eastern city of Ghazni, where he was captured by militants the day after arriving, he says in the video. In...
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Intelligence Find Yet to Reveal bin Laden's True Role
09 May 2011
Al Qaeda documents captured in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden will give Western intelligence a clearer idea of the threat he posed, and may help settle the latest bad-tempered spat between Washington and Islamabad. There was derision in Pakistan Sunday at a suggestion by an unnamed U.S. official that bin Laden's Abbottabad compound was an "active command and control center" for al Qaeda. One senior Pakistan security official dismissed that...
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