Son of slain governor alive: Pak

Taseer, kidnapped in August, is being held near Afghan border

“According to the latest information we have, he (Shahbaz) is somewhere on the border of Afghanistan. I can’t tell you more than this. We are tracking (him) and the information we have is that he is alive,” Malik said while speaking to reporters in the port city of Karachi.
Twenty-seven-year-old Taseer was kidnapped from Lahore on August 26 while he was driving to work.

Police had taken into custody a number of people but any significant breakthrough is yet to be made in the case.

Police had also taken into custody some associates of Mumtaz Qadri, the guard who gunned down Shahbaz’s father for his stand against the controversial blasphemy law.

Several police teams are working in collaboration with intelligence agencies on different leads in the case but have not had any success so far.

It was also said that Pakistan’s military-run ISI is leading the probe into his kidnapping.
Salmaan was gunned down by his guard in Islamabad on January 4.

Nine soldiers die in ambush

Paramilitary forces raided a militant hideout in Pakistan’s rugged tribal region near the Afghan border on Monday, sparking fighting that killed nine soldiers and 10 insurgents, AP reports from Peshawar.

Clashes are common in the area, but the death toll from the fighting on Monday was unusually high on the Pakistani side.

The raid took place in Akka Khel village in the Khyber tribal area, said Farooq Khan, a senior local government official.

A military official confirmed the number of soldiers killed and said helicopter gunships were called in to provide support.