Man oh man, the past twelve hours have been pretty crazy. I'm just going to briefly touch on each item;
It wasn't just Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban's shadow governor of Kunduz, who was recently captured or Mullah Baradar. It was also Mullah Mir Mohammah, the shadow governor of Baghlan province in the north, was also captured. Thank you, Pakistan, for finally doing some good.(Dawn) In a separate incident, several associates of al Qaeda were picked up in Karachi.(Dawn, Geo News, NY Times)
The senior NATO officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said American forces had detained or killed "three or four" Taliban provincial governors in the past several weeks, including the Taliban’s shadow governor for Lagman Province.
Another drone has struck in North Wazirisitan. This would be the 15th strike of the new year, and the fourth in the past five days. It has been a full two months since a drone active on the Paksitani side has struck outside of North Waziristan- and that was to strike in South Waziristan. At least three dead.(Dawn)
The Orakzai tribal agency is rocked by a bombing that appears to have targeted civilians. At least ten have died.(Dawn)
In neighboring Khyber, an even deadlier bomb targeted the pro-Taliban Lashkar-i-Islam group. The anti-state group's second in command is reportedly dead at the hands of another militant group who might have used a suicide bomber. One report indicates that Pakistan has provided support to the group behind the bombing. At the time of this posting, the death toll reached 30.(Dawn, Geo News) Earlier reports indicated that this strike took place in Orakzai targeting a market.(AP)