Drone attacks spawn assassinations

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The number of drone-fired missiles in Pakistan is increasing and so is the number of assassinations of alleged American spies, observers said.


The killing of alleged spies appears to be tied to the increased number of U.S.-fired drone missiles, predominately in the tribal area of North Waziristan, The Washington Post reported.

The report said as many as seven times a week corpses appear in fields with warnings pinned to their clothing that all American spies would be killed.

Pakistani officials and tribesmen say the increased strikes force residents to stay indoors, denying friends of shelter, fearing allegations of spying.

With little proof, militants have been killing suspected spies, the report said.

"They are just spreading terror by killing anyone," said Lt. Gen. Asif Yasin Malik, commander of Pakistani troops in the northwest, including in the semiautonomous tribal areas.

Drones have fired 112 missiles on Pakistan's tribal areas this year, 88 percent of which hit North Waziristan.

A Pakistani intelligence official said 70 informants for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency have been assassinated in North Waziristan since 2004.

"They are out to kill us," the intelligence official said. "That puts the fear of God into people who may want to work for us."

Officials looking for terrorists in India

MUMBAI, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Indian officials say they are looking for four terrorists who entered the country with the intention of launching attacks during the holidays.


Police officials in Mumbai, India's financial capital, were on high alert Friday, The New York Times reported.

Officials suspect the men belong to Lashkar-e-Toiba, a Pakistani group that Indian and American officials blame for a November 2008 attack in Mumbai that killed more than 163 people.

Police released a sketch of one suspect, identified as Waleed Jinnah, and asked residents to report any suspicious behavior.

"We are getting information in bits and pieces," Deven Bharti, head of the Mumbai police crime branch. "We are trying to work on it."

It is the second time in four months police suspected an attack was imminent. Police released the sketch of another terrorist in September who they said was planning an attack to coincide with a religious festival.

The terrorists plan to cause a "major disturbance," Nisar Tamboli, deputy police commissioner, said in a Times of India report.

Few security experts say they think it possible to protect fully a city as populous as Mumbai from determined terrorists. The city's population is nearly 14 million.

U.N. report: Civilian casualties up

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A United Nations report says the number of civilians killed or hurt in the Afghan war jumped by 20 percent in the first 10 months of this year over a year ago.

"Before it gets better, it may get worse," Staffan de Mistura, the top U.N. envoy to Afghanistan, said in a quarterly report on the war.

De Mistura said insurgents are expected to stage high-profile attacks in the months ahead, The Washington Post reported.


The report said the number of civilian casualties attributable to insurgents climbed by 25 percent during the 10-month period.

The report said insurgents were responsible for killing or injuring almost 5,000 civilians, compared to 742 killed or wounded by Afghan or international troops -- a drop of 18 percent.

The Taliban, on their Web site, called the civilian casualty figures "a propaganda stunt aimed at concealing American brutalities."

The number of NATO troops killed this year also reached a new high, the report said.

It said according to a tally kept by the Web site icasualties.org at least 705 international troops were killed this year in Afghanistan, compared to 521 a year ago.

U.S. sanctions being skirted

NEW YORK, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The New York Times says the United States has allowed U.S. companies to do business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as sponsors of terrorism.

The Times said a little-known office of the Treasury Department has granted nearly 10,000 licenses for business in sanctioned countries through a decade-old law mandating agricultural and medical humanitarian aid be exempted from sanctions.

The law, pushed by the farm lobby, was so broadly written that humanitarian aid has included cigarettes, weight-loss remedies, Louisiana hot sauce and bodybuilding supplements, the newspaper said.

The newspaper said hundreds of other licenses were approved because they were deemed to serve American foreign policy goals -- and many clearly do. But it also said some use the provision as a loophole to do business in countries that have been sanctioned.


The Times cited an example in which an American company was permitted to bid on a pipeline job that would have helped Iran sell natural gas to Europe even though the United States opposes such projects.

In another case, several other American businesses were permitted to deal with foreign companies believed to be involved in terrorism or weapons proliferation.

But the Obama administration's point man on sanctions said focusing on exceptions "misses the forest for the trees."

"No one can doubt we are serious about this," Stuart A. Levey said.

Officials this week announced new sanctions to press Iran to abandon its nuclear program, but some diplomats and foreign affairs experts' fear that allowing the sale of even small-ticket items with no military application muddies the U.S. moral and diplomatic authority.

"It's not a bad thing to grant exceptions if it represents a conscious policy decision to give countries an incentive," said Stuart Eizenstat, who oversaw sanctions policy for the Clinton administration when the humanitarian-aid law was passed. "But when you create loopholes like this that you can drive a Mack truck through, you are giving countries something for nothing, and they just laugh in their teeth. I think there have been abuses."

Bethlehem having best Christmas in years

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Tourism in Bethlehem is back from the dead despite Israel's separation wall, local merchants say.

"You won't find a room in Bethlehem this Christmas," Samir Hazboun, director of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, told the British newspaper The Independent. "It's now better than it was in 1999."


The town of Jesus' birth is only three miles from Jerusalem, but a 25-foot-high wall, which Israel erected in 2003, has separated them. An Israeli checkpoint often forces tourists to wait as long as 90 minutes.

Nevertheless, tourism is at its highest level since the millennium celebrations in 2000. Numbers have risen 60 percent from last year to 1.45 million, and 90,000 visitors are expected this Christmas alone.

More visitors are now staying in local hotels rather than Israel, and overnight stays are up 45 percent.

Palestinians have big plans for the town, hoping to turn Star Street, the route Mary and Joseph are said to have taken, into a shop-lined pedestrian thoroughfare.

"Palestine is a challenging tourism destination," Tourism Minister Khouloud Daibes said. "We tell visitors that Bethlehem is surrounded by a wall, but if you cross it, you will have a unique experience."