Plot foiled to bomb Americans in Lahore

LAHORE: Police claimed Monday to have arrested six suspects, including a would-be suicide bomber, who were plotting to attack a five-star hotel and kill Americans.

Police recovered an explosive-laden suicide vest fitted with 26 hand grenades during the operation in Lahore, senior police superintendent Zulfikar Hameed told a news conference.

Police rarely release any details of the alleged plots.

It is not possible to confirm the alleged plots independently.

The six suspects were paraded at the news conference wearing black masks to hide their identity.

"Their target was Lahore's Pearl Continental Hotel where some Americans were staying," Hameed said. "They wanted large-scale death and devastation."

Rain disrupts sewerage system in City

Statesman Report

PESHAWAR: The ongoing spell of rain has disrupted sewerage system in many parts of the provincial capital on Monday causing immense miseries to the citizens, reported a private TV channel. The rain exposed the tall claims frequently made by the authorities regarding an effective sewerage system in the city as many areas were inundated with rainwater. The most affected parts were Lahori, Hussain Abad, Afghan Colony, Hashtnagri and Tehkal where sewerage system almost collapsed. In these areas, major and small drains as well as gutter lines were chocked while the filthy water, overflowing from them, inundated roads and street causing traffic mess and creating hazardous situation.

Ajmal Khattak laid to rest

NOWSHERA: Veteran politician, eminent writer, renowned Pashto poet and former President of ANP, Ajmal Khattak was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard at Akora Khattak in Nowshera district on Monday afternoon.

The funeral prayer of the ANP leader was attended by thousands of his well-wishers from across the country and Afghanistan to pay homage to political and intellectual services of the legendary poet. Khattak breathed his lost due to high long protected illness at his residence late last night. He was 85. Conspicuous among them who attended the last rituals of Ajmal Khattak were Federal Minister for Railways, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, State Minister for Local Government and Rural

Taliban defiant as Afghans flee ahead of assault

KANDAHAR: NATO commanders urged the Taliban to surrender as troops dug in Monday for a major assault on a key insurgent stronghold in southern Afghanistan, sending thousands of residents fleeing. The Taliban remained defiant as civilians of the Marjah plain accused the militia, which is leading an eight-year insurgency, of massing fighters and arms for a bloody battle in Helmand province expected to start this week. Taliban fighters "prefer to stay and fight," Yousuf Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. "Afghan and foreign forces have come to the Marjah area and our mujahedeen forces are also in the area firing rockets at them," he said.

Pakistan snub Intikhab, Kamran for
England T20

Alam likely to be sacked

LAHORE: Pakistan on Monday left out coach Intikhab Alam and wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal from its 14-man side to face England in two Twenty20 matches.

There is speculation Alam will be sacked over Pakistan’s humiliating 3-0 Test and 5-0 one-day series whitewash in Australia last month, but a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official denied he had been dismissed.

“Alam is not sacked,” PCB chief operating officer Wasim Bari told AFP. “There is no decision on Alam’s future as yet, but it will be taken subsequently,” he added.

PCB has ordered a six-man evaluation committee to look into why Pakistan was routed in Australia, summoning Alam,

Weekly inflation falls by 0.11 percent

ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), for the week ended on February 04, for the lowest income group up to Rs3,000, has registered decrease of 0.11 percent over the previous week. The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 253.52 as against 253.80 registered in the previous week, according to provisional figures of Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS).

The weekly SPI has been computed with base 2000-2001=100 covering 17 urban centres and 53 essential items for all income groups and combined. SPI for the combined group registered positive growth of 0.36 per cent as it went up from 241.14 in the previous week to 242.02 in the week under

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Today's Broadsheets

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• Rescue 1122’s merit

• Ajmal Khattak

• Coping with rain

• Bara lawlessness

• Ex-judge’s murder

• TTP chief’s fate

• US guilty verdict and Pakistan’s great people

• Fluid situation in Afghanistan and faulty US assumptions

• Taliban take on the US’s surge

• Dissecting Roger Federer’s greatness

• Washington works the Af-Pak-India triangle

• Historian who helped inspire civil rights movement dead

• A surge of diplomacy, please

• The time to talk to the Taliban is now

Larger-than-life Ajmal Khattak

The demise of Ajmal Khattak is really a shocking news. That great Khattak, embodiment of patriotism, commitment, sincerity, loyalty, courage honesty, humbleness, unwieldiness (in short

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