Pakistan's military has broken the back of militants linked to al Qaeda and Taliban, the country's powerful head of the army said in a speech on Saturday that followed criticism from the United States that it wasn't doing enough to fight militancy.+++
Washington, struggling to put down a 10-year insurgency in Afghanistan, said this month that Pakistan lacked a robust plan to defeat militants, and its intelligence agents were maintaining links with Afghan Taliban militants.
Without making any reference to Washington's concerns, army General Ashfaq chief Kayani said Pakistan army was fully aware of the internal and external threats faced by the country.
"In the war against terrorism, our officers and soldiers have made great sacrifices and have achieved tremendous success," he said in a speech to army cadets at Kakul military academy, north of Islamabad, broadcast by state television.
"The terrorists' backbone has been broken and Inshallah (God willing) we will soon prevail."
More after the jump (assuming the formatting worked right!)
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Syrian forces are now cracking down on "protests" that are actually funerals.
Syrian security forces fired on tens of thousands of mourners during funeral processions Saturday, killing at least six people following the deadliest day of the uprising against authoritarian President Bashar Assad.+++
The funeral processions for some 75 people killed Friday were highly charged gatherings, with people shouting slogans against the regime as they carried coffins through the streets.
Witnesses said security forces killed four people were killed in Douma, a suburb of the capital, and two in the southern village of Izraa. The witness account could not be independently confirmed because Syria has expelled journalists and restricted access to trouble spots. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
"They prevented us from continuing our way to the cemetery," said the witness in Douma, who said he was among at least 50,000 people taking part in the funerals there.
The Libyan army may be bailing out on Misrata.
Libyan troops captured by rebels in Misrata said on Saturday the army had been ordered to retreat from the western port, and a rebel spokesman said soldiers had booby trapped bodies and buildings as they fled.+++
The last large city held by rebels in western Libya, Misrata had been under a brutal government siege for nearly two months and hundreds of civilians have died in the fighting.
"We have been told to withdraw. We were told to withdraw yesterday," one army soldier, Khaled Dorman, told Reuters.
Lying in the back of a pickup truck, he was among 12 wounded soldiers brought to a hospital for treatment in Misrata, which is about 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli. Blasts and machine gun fire were heard in the distance.
Another serviceman, asked by a Reuters correspondent if the government had lost control over Misrata, said "yes."
And an airstrike hit a parking lot in Libya. Oh, and it was covering up an underground bunker complex.
Two missiles apparently fired by NATO warplanes struck near Moammar Gadhafi's sprawling compound in central Tripoli early Saturday, setting off loud booms but causing no injuries.
On the other side of the country, a rebel commander said NATO aircraft destroyed more than two dozen trucks and cars carrying Gadhafi's forces not far from the contested city of Ajdabiya.
Reporters were taken to an unpaved plot next to the Bab Aziziyeh compound and shown two craters, apparently from the missiles that had pierced through thick layers of reinforced concrete, laying bare what looked like a bunker system.
About two dozen Gadhafi supporters arrived at the scene, waving green flags in support of the Libyan leader.
Libyan officials said the lot served as a parking lot but a series of olive-colored metal boxes near the crater suggested the area was being used for military activities.
By: Brant
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